To Gwen

Gwen, the One Who Made Me Mom

A Love Letter. An Apology. A Truth I'm Finally Ready to Tell.

This book is for my daughter, Gwen.

The one who made me a mother-and the one who bore the weight of my becoming.

Told through memory, reflection, and raw honesty, Gwen, the One Who Made Me Mom is not just a tribute to her childhood-it's the apology I never knew how to say, the truth I was too ashamed to share, and the love I've carried through every version of myself.

It traces the journey of a young woman learning how to mother in the middle of survival.

It holds the messy beginning-how I met her father.

It remembers the softness of her babyhood and the fire of her teenage years.

It doesn't flinch from the hard parts, because she deserves the full story.

This book is a bridge.

A sacred one.

Built from words I couldn't find when I was drowning,

and pages I now offer with both hands-open, humble, and real.

Whether she reads this today or years from now, I hope she'll feel the only thing that has never changed:

my love for her. Always.

All proceeds from this book will go toward mutual aid for families in Gaza.