celebrating motherhood with stacie hess

what does motherhood mean to you?

the saying that, “making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body,” to me, encapsulates motherhood right there. there is nothing that explains it better. she is literally my heart, my body cannot contain all the love that I feel for her.

how has becoming a mother changed your worldview?

once I became a mother, I really saw my own mother in a new light. I understand the generational differences – my parents only knew how to parent from how they were brought up. they did as much as they could with what they had. we are all learning along the way. there is no handbook.

I look back to my childhood and understand what my mother was going through at certain moments. now that I’m a mother, on my birthday, I actually call her. it’s her day, she was the one who went through it.

are there any perceptions around motherhood that you’d like to change, or wish were more openly challenged?

I think the idea that having a child limits you is inaccurate. you can have your career, travel the world, have a social life and still have a family.

having my daughter while I was in my early 20s, I kind of did things backwards — the kid first, my career later. we have now included her in our every plan. she has been raised bouncing around on planes with us, quietly sitting at dinner meetings with us, and even spending long, stretched out days downtown in the jewellery district with me. she is my little buddy in everything that I do.