My Body Outlines Our Family Story by Candace Echols

You drank lattes all frothy, like ski slopes with names,

but then you changed.

Now its coffee and milk—you’re not the same. 

I gave birth to five babies with five sweet nicknames,

but then I changed.

Mothers, you know, are never the same. 

My imperfections are decidedly yours

and—as it turns out—you love that more 

than the perfect you thought you held before. 

My body outlines our family story:

an adventure in motion

awash with God’s glory.  

I am still yours—cozy and warm; but ever-changing, much like a storm.

You are still mine—a delight and, indeed, a known surprise—a bestseller read. 

Peeling back layers will make us both new;

it’ll never get old, because you are you,

and your crystalline eyes 

see me straight through.