Momilies

together to create a terrifying scene from a horror movie. My doctor instincts did not set in. I ran in circles. I’ve never lived it down

SL: How have your notions of what it means to be a Mom changed over your lifetime?

EE: When my twins were born, I was 34-yearsold and married. We had tried for so long to become parents that becoming a mom for the first time was the realization of a dream for me. But bringing them home from the hospital was a rude awakening. It was much harder than I thought and times two! Up to that point my notions of being a mom were all daydreams and the reality did live up to the dream in some ways—and in other ways I was naive. But, when my daughter was born, I was a 42-year-old single mom and a widow. At that time, I’d had eight years of parenting experience—half of those with my husband and the other half as a widow. I was much more confident in my instincts. Plus, I didn’t sweat the small stuff or think everything had to be perfect for me to be a good mom. Giving myself the room to be human and make mistakes has been the biggest change for me.

SL: What’s the best family vacation you’ve ever taken? EE: I have two. The first one was with my late husband and our twins to Hotel del Coronado in California. He booked this trip when I was huge pregnant at 39 weeks with twins and I thought he was crazy! He was born in Long Beach so we went to California a lot, but never before with 5-month-old twin babies. When we walked into first class on the plane with an infant in both of our arms you could cut the tension with a knife... lots of eye rolling. I had everything planned perfectly—bottle on takeoff, slept the whole way, awake at landing. We literally received applause from all of our fellow travelers. And the time spent there was just as perfect. Second one was a Disney Cruise with my mom, my daughter and twins. After losing my dad and my husband just eight years apart, I never take having time off with family for granted. Watching them indulge and have fun always does wonders for my soul.

SL: Is there a moment or event that radically changed the way you saw Motherhood? EE: The moment I became a single mom. It was very sudden and unexpected. My prayers immediately