As many said goodbye to 2016 with bitter smiles and drunken dismay, I closed the greatest chapter to my life. (By 11:00 p.m. #momlife)

2016 may have been a year we said farewell to far too many great actors, musicians, and leaders; a year we experienced one of the ugliest presidential elections and a year of conflict and violence…but it was still a year that brought me more happiness than any other.

This year named me a mother.

A gift that makes me forever thankful and aware of what I have while reminding me to always strive to improve. Not only for myself but for my daughter.

I am forever a hero in someone’s eyes and that is a HUGE responsibility. But, one that I am grateful every day I get to have.

Besides the feedings, diaper changes, and sleepless nights, I have been given a chance to teach, nurture and mold someone into an asset to this damaged world.

2016 provided me with the honor of raising a kind, hard-working, intelligent human being with the potential to help restore the good.

And as I watch her personality develop more each day, my job seems easier and easier.

A smart, loving and happy baby already, I am eager to watch her grow into the beautiful person I know she’s destined to be.

So, 2016…you may have not made everyone happy and you may have caused many to question the good in humanity, but you also gave me happiness, more love than I ever thought possible and hope.

Thank You

<3 Michaela