By Jara Reeder, Senior Reporter
One of the most rewarding and challenging things I have ever done has been becoming a mother. You don’t realize how much a little human can change so much about your life. Parents have told me in the past, “They are the biggest blessing and hardest change to your life,” and they are.
But we don’t put that into perspective until we have one of our own. Those first moments meeting my daughter were surreal. You don’t know how much you can love someone in just a few seconds after hearing the first cry.
I didn’t realize how much my life would change. People can tell you that it will, but you’re just in denial until the moment you see your child.
There are lost nights of sleep. I thought I was going insane when she cried for no reason.
But then there is this calm after she’s asleep. I just look at her and the perfection of her little face and fingers that grasp onto my finger.
I look down at her and become overwhelmed with love. I just want to squeeze and kiss her. I call this “cuteness aggression.”
We’ve been together for a few months now. There were times it was hard. But I think I’m at a fun stage because she’s starting to smile and talk back, which is more grunts and gurgles, but I’ll take it.
She’s finding her personality, and that makes it fun to watch her develop. Looking at her, it’s beautiful to know how this little person was created.
Looking back, it was hard in the beginning when I found out I was pregnant. I was scared of the unknown and had to continue going to school.
But when it came to my fall semester and now my last semester here at Northwestern, I could not have asked for a better place.
Faculty here at Northwestern have been so gracious in working with me to get me to my end goal: graduating.
My daughter became a part of my classes. I told my professors I had given birth. I sent pictures of her, of course. And I told them I will be back for finals.
The day after she was born, Professor McAlpin, with my permission, posted the news of Sage’s arrival on Blackboard in the class announcements.
That was the nicest thing. Sage was the topic for many of our class discussions. Other students in my class were invested.
Northwestern is a family, especially if you don’t have yours close at a time when you are facing big changes.
So, I wanted to thank my professors for their support and guidance in helping me finish. If it wasn’t for them, I would not be here finishing my last semester.
I was scared about a year ago, knowing that my last year of college was upon me. But now I have true meaning to my life, and I’m doing everything for her.
Motherhood has changed me for the better. I put someone else before myself. I finally know what my parents have gone through, and I respect them more for that.
Life for me has been altered, and it just seems to have more meaning now that my daughter is in it.