Every mother will struggle through some hard days as a parent. The days when nothing seems to be going right and every child seems to be working their hardest to push their mother to the brink of insanity. Though it can be hard, remember this, it is important to focus on the blessing that is both the good and bad days.
TODAY anchor Hoda Kotb has discovered her own special saying to help push herself through the tough days of motherhood. Last year Kotb adopted a Haley Joy as a baby at the age of 52, after years and years of longing for a child of her own.
Kotb explained during a TODAY segment that from the first moment she held Haley Joy she knew it was meant to be.
“I remember she just fitted in,” Kotb said. “That’s all I remember. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe this fits like this.’ It’s like a puzzle piece that snapped in and now I’m me.”
Yet, even with such glorious moments of love between mother and daughter, Kotb is no stranger to hard days. During the segment Kotb recounted a story of one night when she was up at 2 a.m. with Haley Joy who was crying while everything was going wrong. Joel, her partner, was out of town and the dog had not only pooped on the floor, but then proceeded to also break a picture frame.
With shattered glass and poop on the floor and a screaming baby in her arms, Kotb tried to calm herself by having a quick conversation with God.
“I remember saying, ‘I would have begged you for this day.’ Like this terrible day, I would have begged on my knees for.”
Though this simple saying won’t erase the pain of a bad day in the world of motherhood, hopefully repeating it over and over will help to pull mothers everywhere out of the funk of being overwhelmed.
“I try to check myself on those rough days,” Kotb continued. “And say, ‘Remember when you were on your knees asking and begging for this moment? Take it.’”
Praying that we would all remember to thank God for the good and the bad days.