It’s crazy for me to see these photos of my grandma and mom together. A few things stand out to me. First, I see so much resemblance between my grandma and my older sister, Hilary, at a similar age. I also see so much resemblance between my mom as a baby and my little sister Rennen as a baby.

What an incredible thing motherhood is! My grandmother raised six children, and my mom was her second baby. When I think about my grandmother and my mother in their roles as mothers, I think about how motherhood brings women to their most vulnerable. The rawness and vulnerability of living for and through your children, their pain, and the loss or absence of them, is indescribable. Bearing witness to their motherhood has been so humbling.

One thing my mom and grandma had in common was their shared magic when it came to caring for new babies. They were both at their most natural when caring for the youngest in the family, with newborns asleep in their arms. One of the last times I spoke to my mother, we were Facetiming as she was holding her newborn grandson, who was screaming. As he fussed, she giggled, and said there was nothing else she would rather be doing in the world.