Sunrise. Sunset.

13. I am now the mama of a teenager.

When I look at my son, I see how his bone structure is changing. His face and body are more muscular and I see the beginnings of the man to be.

Nevertheless, I can also still see the cherubic face I first laid eyes upon after 2 days of labor followed by a C-section.

And this is both the beauty and the challenge of raising another human being.

He will, symbolically, always be my maravilla (wonder), but the truth is that even when I held him within my own body, he was his own person and it is my duty to support his becoming.

Now that he is officially a teenager, I feel it is even more crucial for me to see him as he is, rather than how he once was.

Since his infancy, at bedtime I say to him, “Hoy te quiero más que ayer” to which he responds, “Pero menos que mañana.” “Today I love you more than yesterday but less than tomorrow.”

Every day since December 1, 2010, I have loved my son more. I welcome his adolescence with an open heart and an open mind.