The author reflects on her journey of motherhood, discovering the profound emotions attached to love and the practical costs of parenting. As she sorts through her children's school materials, she grapples with the challenge of preserving memories versus the reality of accumulated clutter. Love letters from her kids embody their feelings, illustrating how children express affection through the same words their parents have repeatedly shared. The article articulates the intense physical sensations linked to maternal love and the bittersweet nature of preserving childhood memories.
On my eldest daughter's first day of kindergarten, I told myself I would keep scads of her schoolwork as mementos in boxes in the attic, but I underestimated how much there would be.
The love for one's children is overwhelming, so intense that its attendant emotions often register as physical sensations: the blossoming euphoria triggered by the scent of the child's hair.
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