A long time ago, I was in control of my life. I had a good job, traveled, watched an entire television show from start to finish, and went to the bathroom all by myself.

And then I fell in love and became a mother.

And that’s where my life went off the rails. In a good way. Sort of.

One year into our marriage, my husband and I asked God to bless us with children. Our friends who had started families warned us. These kids, they said, will drain you of every ounce of energy. They are dictators. You will never sleep. Your life as you know it, they said, will be over.

We brushed off their warnings. We would be different, we told ourselves. As a mother, I would be the chief executive, and my superior corporate management skills would easily translate to parenthood.
Uh huh, my friends said.

We prayed for beautiful, funny, imaginative, active, kind-hearted children. And our prayers were answered with Timothy and Charlie. They are exactly what we hoped they would be. We should have been more specific in our prayer request.

My children, these beautiful gifts to the world, have farting contests at the dinner table. They moon each other and the neighbors. They play fight club right before bed. They wander the neighborhood in their underpants and ask neighbors for snacks because “Mommy doesn’t buy us food.” They clog the toilets, draw on freshly painted walls, meltdown in the middle of the grocery store, sit on the toilets at the home improvement stores, and say inappropriate things at inappropriate times. They voluntarily put their heads in the toilet and pee in the bathtub.

Our blessings have big imaginations and no common sense. And as their mother, I have no control.

I am at their mercy.

But I love them anyway. I love my children through the good days and bad days. I love them through their pants-less days and messy days. I love them through tantrums and feet-stomping attitudes. I love them when they’re cute and when they throw up on my shoes. Because when motherhood blesses us with children — we are also given the capacity to love deeply, completely, unconditionally.

All the time.
No matter what.
It’s the ultimate love story.