Dear me, eight years ago,

You’re holding a baby on your chest and keeping an eye on a two-year-old who never stops moving. Lily is brand new to your life, and Enzo still needs you for everything. You’re exhausted in a deep, bone-level way. 😔

You’re living in a crowded house with their dad, his parents, his brother, and his grandma. There’s noise everywhere, but you still feel alone.

You’re working at the Hampton INN just to make ends meet, even with all those people under one roof. 🍽️🏨 You feel embarrassed sometimes, like you should be further along by now. You don’t know it yet, but you’re in a bad relationship, one that slowly makes you smaller. You tell yourself this is just what survival looks like.

Here’s what you don’t know yet: everything is about to change.

A few months after Lily is born, something clicks. 💡 You look at your kids and realize you have to do better; not just financially, but emotionally, mentally, in every way. You don’t even know how yet, but the decision is made. That matters more than you understand.

You go to nursing school. It’s hard. Really hard. 📚 You doubt yourself constantly, but you keep going anyway. And somehow, here you are, five years into being a nurse. You’ve mentored new nurses. You’ve been charge nurse. You moved into the ICU 2.5 years ago, doing work you once thought was way beyond you. 🩺 You are strong in ways you never imagined.

You also move your kids to a school district you didn’t know much about. It’s unfamiliar at first, but it becomes home. 🏫 You love the community. You love how safe and supported your kids feel. You build a warm, happy home one filled with laughter, calm, and love. 🏡

You travel now. ✈️🌍 You show your kids new places and new possibilities. You make memories instead of just getting through the day.

And now? You’re starting photography. 📷
You feel that same quiet excitement you felt with nursing that sense of this could grow into something beautiful. And it will. It always does when you believe in yourself and keep going.

So please hear this: you’re not failing. You’re becoming.
And you do it again and again. 💛

-Love, you