2 minute read | By Michelle L., new mother and CBR employee of 13 years
How It Started
I met my husband Bryan when we were in high school back in Phoenix, Arizona. About seven years ago, we reconnected via Facebook through our love of travel and similar experience of hiking beautiful Machu Picchu.
At that time, Bryan was living in New York City and I was in San Francisco. What we could never have imagined was where we would be today, celebrating Mother’s Day with our nine-month-old daughter, Quinn.
For years, Bryan and I had a long distance relationship. We were traveling between NYC and San Francisco, but also taking the opportunity to meet in different, wonderful places around the world.
It Was Love
Bryan officially moved to San Francisco two years ago, and we were married in front of our family. Before our wedding, Bryan and I had planned our dream trip to go hiking with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda, knowing this would be a trip better suited for the two of us rather than as a family. So, at eight weeks pregnant, Bryan and I were climbing through the hot, sticky forests searching for the opportunity to see the magnificent mountain gorillas.
After spending hours watching a 30-year-old Silverback male take care of his family, we started the massive ascent out of the forest. I remember Bryan turning back to check on me every two minutes—was I okay, was I too hot, did I need to take a break?
At that moment I realized it wasn’t just him and me anymore. We were a family, one that needed the same passionate caring and protection that the Silverback had provided its family.
Bryan and I sometimes laugh thinking about how our days of a long-distance relationship seemed busy. Then we compare them to our lives as parents now. The last seven years have been a whirlwind, but Bryan and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Two Become Three
We had our daughter, Quinn, in August 2017, and every day since has been more magical, and busier, than the last. We grew from childhood friends into a couple, then into a family that grows stronger by the day.
As I celebrate my first Mother’s Day, I am most grateful for that: being able to come home to my family every day.
— Michelle