There are moments in life that seem to exist outside of time, moments so pure and full that they imprint themselves onto the soul. Today was one of those moments. My daughter, my little girl who has always found her own way of expressing love, finally said the words I had been waiting to hear. “I love you, Mommy.”
For the longest time, her love had been silent but never absent. When she was just over a year old, at 13 months, she found a way to tell me without words. Every time I said, “I love you,” she would cross her arms—a tiny, unspoken embrace, her own language of affection. It became our special thing. I would say it, and she would respond with that little gesture, a secret we shared. It was enough. It was more than enough. But today, something changed.
She looked at me with those bright eyes, full of something I couldn’t quite place at first. And then, so simply, as if she had been saying it forever, she said, “I love you, Mommy” then crossing her arms. Just like that. No hesitation, no searching for the right way—just her little voice filling the space between us with words I had dreamed of hearing.
There was no stopping the rush of emotions that followed. The joy, the surprise, the overwhelming sweetness of it all. I scooped her up, holding her close, trying to freeze the moment in my heart. She giggled, probably wondering why I was squeezing her so tight, but she didn’t take it back. She knew what she had said. She meant it.
It’s incredible, really, how children grow—not just in size but in the way they understand the world, the way they find new ways to connect. Last year, she was just beginning to discover love, shaping it in gestures because words were still out of reach. And now, here she is, standing in front of me, growing into someone who can say it out loud.
I think about all the firsts she’s had and all the firsts still to come. The first time she reached for my hand, the first time she laughed, the first time she called me “Mommy.” Each one felt like the biggest thing in the world. But this—this is something else entirely. This is love in its purest, simplest form, spoken for the first time.
I keep replaying it in my mind, afraid to let it fade. The sound of her voice, the way she looked at me, the softness in those little words. It’s amazing how something so small can feel so infinite.
There’s no stopping her now. She’s really growing. And as much as I sometimes wish I could slow time, keep her little just a while longer, I know this is how it’s meant to be. She is unfolding, discovering, becoming. And today, she added words to the love she has always given so freely.
I will never forget this day. Because today, my daughter told me she loves me. And there is nothing sweeter in the world. ❤️💝💞
