St. Anthony Messenger: Presence and Surrender

As I gave our son his nightly bath, my wife, Lauren (who I call La La), showered in the other bathroom. It dawned on me: Is this the only time she gets to herself each day? Those 15 minutes in the shower?

Soon she would put our baby to bed, maybe nurse him to sleep, then probably pump. Next she would prepare the bottles and make our son’s food for the next day. Maybe we would sit on the couch for 30 minutes to watch a show, but soon our son would be waking again. (Why even bother paying for streaming services?)

In a year, our son, Indy, has only slept more than four hours straight a handful of times. When he wakes, he usually doesn’t want me; he wants his momma. My wife, night after night, stumbles through the dark hallway into his bedroom to sleep next to our son with their mattresses on the floor. It’s the only thing that calms him down. Before long, it’s 5:30 and my wife is getting up to teach at an elementary school...

Click here to finish reading my "Let us Pray" Mother's Day column in the May 2023 issue of the St. Anthony Messenger.