I Forgot

I forgot.

I didn’t cry.

I didn’t mean to. I would never.

It’s the day I stop.

But this year, I was so busy prepping for Thanksgiving and Special Person’s day for my second grader.

I was caught up in minutia. I was planning the rest of my life. I was living and I totally forgot what today could have been.

What it should have been…

My baby’s 2^nd birthday.

I was supposed to be wrangling a toddler. Entering the terrible twos.

Instead my lap is empty.

My heart has a hole.

Worst of all, I forgot to be sad about it.

I forgot to remember that it was the anniversary of what could have been.

I feel guilty.

I feel ashamed.

I feel like I should be flogged.

There is no guilt quite so terrible as that of a mother to a child who almost was.

To a child who you loved with all your soul but lost before you got to tell them so.

A mother who forgot to remember.

I forgot.