I always knew I was going to have a daughter. Life presents you with constant surprises whether you are ready for them or not but I have always welcomed them with open arms, and welcomed her. With her strawberry blonde hair and sparkly eyes. I always thought about what her eyes would look like, and the sounds she would make and what it felt like to run my fingers through her hair. There is a special place for daughters, a soft place where your mind, and your heart and your eyes see differently. You wish to see how she will learn and grow, what her favourite foods will be and what kind of music she will dance to. You want her to feel safe in her own body, her body that will carry her throughout her childhood and into her teen years where you hope she will love this body and respect it and see it as her own safe place. I will be strong for my daughter, and I will love my body for how I have made her, and how she has made me a mother. There is a selflessness that comes along with being a mother, and maybe me and this body can accept who we are as a whole in this moment. This whole body, that will carry her until I can’t any longer, and until my safe place to her isn’t yearned for anymore. Because her and I are the same, growing, learning, and taking on each day as a new one. With sparkly eyes and open hearts and body’s that change.