Mothers

I turn 30 this year. It's quite a sobering thought - it really makes you think about your mortality. My body doesn't work as well as it used to. It's harder to lose weight / stay in shape. I have less patience for young people.

But getting older has another side effect - most of my friends and people I know are married and having children (if they don't already have a bunch). At work, conversations often include mentions of how many ounces of formula our kids are consuming or what percentile so-and-so was for head size at his/her last appointment. Or we talk about what movies we haven't seen lately.

When we become parents, things change dramatically. Our priorities shift. Our social life drops dramatically. We're always tired, and don't understand how people manage to stay up past midnight (and can't remember the last time we did it ourselves). Last night we went to see The Hunger Games at a midnight showing. After that, Kristen said, "Never again." And as I mentioned, our topics of conversation change. We become very different people.

But though I and my guy friends have changed, nowhere is the change more apparent than with new mothers. I look at my wife, and she is completely different than she was six months ago. She is kinder, more gentle, more patient, selfless... She is completely devoted to raising our little Scarlett.

I see the same change with other new mothers. It's most apparent with people I knew when they were single: my sister, my friends Janae, Nancy, LaChelle...the list could go on. These were all wonderful people to begin with, but it's amazing to see the difference becoming a mother has made.

Thank our Heavenly Father for good mothers. And fathers? Try to be as good as they are.