This is something I am quite certain I have never said prior to having offspring. This is also something that I never really considered I would vocally and publicly announce. Ever. Somewhere between giving birth to my first little one and feeding softened carrots to my second, is a phrase I keep repeating over and over:

“I want to eat your face.”

It is my strange truth that most certainly should be a lie. I scare myself every time this phrase makes its appearance. It is because of this fear, that I clench my teeth hard with every pressed lip upon their yummy cheeks of chub. As a preventative measure, if that alone, my teeth must clamp shut with every kiss to avert the possibility of devouring them. I really don’t want to be known as the mom that loved her children so much she ate them. There are just far too many parenting labels out there, so I best not be making ‘Hannibal Mothering’ another one.

I finally understand the phrase “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” You can’t have your children and swallow them whole. You just can’t. Obviously, I want to have my children, so my choice is most certainly made. Yet still, after an exhausting day and them tucked away sound asleep in their beds, I miss them. I crave them. I want to gobble them up as they sleep. I hunger for that irresistible head of the cutest features you ever did see.

There are just far too many parenting labels out there, so I best not be making ‘Hannibal Mothering’ another one.

It is with great hope and sadness that I predict my children’s savor will evaporate with age. I am certain however; that once grandbabies make their appearance my appetite will most certainly resume.

Oh, when will the torment end?!

My children are mine forever and I am beyond grateful for that blessing. They will bring forward a legacy of faith and love. They will melt and break hearts. They will build and move mountains. But most importantly – they will survive as a monument of a mother’s will power. That though she so wanted to, she in fact, did NOT eat their faces.