Simply Mad About LOVE Stories - Day 8

Day 8 of "14 Days of Love Stories" is here and today's story is a special one for me...it my sister's Daphne story of love for her daughter (my adored niece) Mariana...it is a story I know well...

{ I am still collecting stories...send me yours at
simplymad@ymail.com }

Here is Daphne's love story...

{ My whole life I have been a very independent person, with my own opinions and points of view.  I am sensitive to injustices and my family is #1 to me but I never imagined wanting to be a mother.  As time passed, I became professionally successful, I was surrounded by a solid circle of family & friends and I was happy, but there was an emptiness, something was missing.

When I reached 30, seriously and for the first time in my life I asked myself what I wanted in life. And for the first time I flirted with the idea of being a mom.  From that moment on, my biological clock started ticking and that flirtation became a goal; a mission.


On April 12, 2000, all doubts vanished and what I had been waiting for it became a reality.  I was going to be a mother!  I remember vividly what I felt when I heard the new.  My biggest concern was if I would be a good mother; a concern I still carry with me.

Those expecting months felt like an eternity.  Patience has never been one of my virtues.  So much anticipation and excitement about that first meeting - I think about it and I can't help but to smile!


Maternity is, without a doubt, one of the biggest learning experiences life has to offer.  You give up your body, energy and space to another being without knowing him/her...without a doubt the greatest act of love I had made up until that moment!

Talking to her, playing music for her, singing to her and wondering how she would be like, what she would look like filled many hours of those long 9 months.  No other experience has come even close to being as wonderful as it was to feel her move inside my belly.  

I had a healthy pregnancy, but there were some difficult moments.  But nothing mattered, the focus was on the arrival of my baby girl.

The great day arrived which was incongruously - the most wonderful but painful (physically) day of my life.  Mariana Nicole Castano Barbeito came into the world on December 4, 2000 - she is a Millennium baby!  Twelve years have gone by and there has not been one day when I don't thank God for the biggest gift I could have dreamt of; I am blessed.

My daughter is the love of my life, what I love the most in the world and the only person I would make the ultimate sacrifice for without thinking about it.  She has brought great and fulfilling experiences into my life.  As a baby she was simply beautiful and now she is in the preamble to become an incredible woman.

Mariana has the perfect balance of equanimity, creativity, spark, intelligence, maturity and joy - she is extremely special.  She is my life partner, we travel together, we share clothes and secrets and even though we have a clear mother/daughter relationship, we also have a lovely friendship.

She is, by far, the most amazing person I know.  In these last 12 years she has taught me many important life lessons.  Time goes by faster than I would like and the baby everyone had to stop to look at has evolved into an soon-to-be -teenager.

I love her 24/7, 365 days a year, but Valentine's Day always makes me reflect on motherhood and how rewarding this journey has been.

I owe Mariana what I have become since she arrived she arrived in my life.  I am more patient and sensitive because of her; she has made me a better person.  I pray to God to help me be the best mother Mariana could have had, to bless her and protect her and to give me many more years to enjoy all the success and accomplishments I know she will have.

Mariana Nicole, you are my sun, my moon and my stars forever...I love you!

Your mommy }