Mom
She often wondered whether she'd made the right decision. Whether the things people said were actually true. Are you okay? Are you crazy? Can you handle it? Is this really for the best? She wasn't always sure, but sometimes it felt more true than not.
Right now, though, she was sure... sure that she had made the right decision. She stood in the middle of the kitchen, a tiny room with a weird smell and cabinets practically bursting at the seams. But each dirty dish and crusty stain and piece of trash that hadn't quite made it in the bin was all a reminder of the life that existed in this space. Of the five hungry mouths she had the privilege of being able to feed each day. Of the five excited voices that fought to be heard at the table.
Of the five spirited, unique, beautiful boys that she called her sons.
Her gaze traveled past the dirtiness and fell on a drawing that hung on the fridge, a crayon depiction of five knights defending a queen from a menacing monster. Hunter had drawn it for her as an apology while on a time-out the week before. Holding it to the fridge was a sunflower magnet, a gift from Echo on her birthday last year. Beside it was Wrecker's report card from the previous semester, with his first A circled proudly in red. Above that were letter magnets that spelled out uncopyrightable, a word Tech had discovered used the most letters of the alphabet. And just beside that was an ad of a sports car Crosshair had cut from a magazine and was not-so-subtly asking her to get every few days.
These were her boys, her sons. Yes, they were messy. Yes, they were a handful. And yes, maybe she was crazy for having adopted all of them on her own. But standing in the midst of their mess, looking at all the things that showed just how smart and strong and creative and kind and brave they all were... how full her life was because of them... she knew the craziness was worth it.
She loved being their mom.