For

Jenny

on Mother’s Day · MMXXVI
Mother’s Day · MMXXVI

Jenny,

We haven’t known each other long, so this is from someone still learning what to notice about you.

Here’s what I’ve noticed so far.

Every time I see you, things are in order — your things are clean, you know where everything is, you aren’t behind on anything. Given what you’re carrying — a child who needs everything from you, full-time, while you still find room to help out people who barely know you — that’s a kind of work most people never see. Because you don’t make a thing of it.

Your daughter speaks in her own way. And she has you. She has the answer to a question most kids spend a lifetime asking, which is whether someone is paying attention. You are. Every day. Without making a performance of it.

I don’t think anyone really makes single motherhood look easy. You make it look like grace.

Happy Mother’s Day.

— Adam