Someone else's best friend.

Someone's post caught my attention the other day, they were a second time mom whom was announcing they were having a girl "a best friend for life" and I thought to myself wait your boy can't be your best friend!?! I realized something harsh and vital to my motherhood. My little sister always kids that me and WB are BFFs, because of our bond, I mean really, we have lunch together, like everyday, we watch movies together, play together and occasionally take selfies. This is the true definition of best friends forever, but the truth is my best friend was filled many years ago, over a decade ago to be exact. My best friend is his father, the man who made me a mother, the man that will be with me before, during and after children, support me and love me through motherhood. The man that will one day snuggle up with me in our empty nest. So I will keep him as my best friend because though the future can make my heart feel like it's ripping in half I know that I am a mother of a boy. The reality is that I am raising someone else's best friend. I am responsible for the kind of best friend he will one day be, the relationship I have with his father will be reflected by him and the relationship he has with me will be reflected to his wife. My mom has told me on numerous times how important it is to marry a man that loves his mother unconditionally, and I know without a doubt I married a man that yearns to do better for his mother, who has cried at the thought of all his mother sacrificed for him. I know that same love he has for her, he also has for me, and because his mom was loyal to him he is loyal to me. I know that raising my son to have this same love for me it will one day be reflected in his relationship with his best friend, his bride. Though she will be the ruler of his heart I will have to step down and accept that I raised him to love, support and cherish his bride, that I put in all the hours and work and that I will have to give him over to another woman, but I will have to know that she is not just a woman but instead his best friend, the woman that I prayed for, for years and years, a woman that God set aside for him. One day I will be walked down the aisle by one of his college buddies, probably not even noticed, then I will dance to a song that he probably didn't even pick out but instead his beautiful bride, and as harsh as it seems I will have to realize that just like me and Michael have built us a life, I will enjoy watching him do the same with his best friend, but I hope she realizes and understands that I once snuggled him for hours a day, cried when he fell or when he was sad and I couldn't fix it, that I wiped his butt and taught him to use the potty, and that I love him unconditionally. I hope she realizes that even though he has a best friend that isn't me, that it won't mean I won't have times of feeling envious or less than, that it won't be easy for me even though I'm sure I will love them both more than I can imagine, especially one day when they give me grandchildren.  I hope I am treated with respect for what I am in his life, because being his mother will never be taken from me and I will much rather be that than be best friends. Most importantly I hope that she will one day understand what it feels like to raise someone else's best friend and she will cut me some slack.  

To my mother in law, I hope you know how much I appreciate you raising my best friend. I love you for it, you have taught me so much!