Adding A Little Serenity

It's Guest Post Day! Please welcome the woman who is the reason - well - for pretty much everything you ever see here. My mother, Kathy Nickerson, author of the soon-to-be released THIRTY DAYS TO GLORY.

I adored motherhood from the moment my nineteen-year-old self first held the china-doll sweetness of baby Felicity. It seemed so appropriate that her father had chosen this name meaning Happiness. She and I spent hours in the rocking chair, ignoring dirty dishes in favor of nursery rhymes and lullabies. Every morning was an adventure of discovery, and every afternoon an oasis of rest. Then, one morning in Felicity’s ninth month of life, I couldn’t eat breakfast. Or lunch.

As the new baby began to take over more of my body and my life, I worried. How could I possibly stretch this intense mother-love to another little soul? How could I rock two babies every night and still find time to wash all their diapers? The questions grew right along with the maternity tents I wore for shirts.

One afternoon while Felicity napped, I picked up the newspaper and scanned a weekly column. The author was a local dignitary who occasionally waxed philosophical about life. This week, he was on a roll. “The most important thing one needs in life is true happiness,” he said. “And, after that, a little serenity.”

I don’t know if the columnist was a prophet or not. But I know he was right. Our family, and the world, needed Serenity quite desperately. As we celebrate her birthday this week, I want to remind her once more what a treasure she is. How my heart expanded the moment she was born, and how my life is richer every hour I know her. How she has made some of the hardest days of my life more bearable. And how she has made all the happy moments higher.

So, thank You, Heaven, for sending Serenity to us. Thank you Mr. Briggs for naming her. And thank you, Dear Reader, for loving her.

P.S. You are welcome, World.