The Joy We carry Forward

There’s something powerful about hearing someone’s story — it reminds us we’re not alone. That’s why I run the New Mom’s Circle at my wellness club, Bian. Each month, we gather to share, listen, and simply be held in each other’s presence. It’s a space to notice the small, fleeting joys of life — the moments that often slip by unnoticed until someone points them out, and suddenly, you see your own life more clearly.

This month our theme was Celebrating Tiny Joys. We shared the lighthearted, heart-bursting moments of motherhood — the sweetness that can be easy to overlook in the swirl of exhaustion.

One story stayed with me. A mom said she loves giving her daughter the freedom to be fully herself — silly, expressive, vibrant — because she never had that space growing up. It made me realize: so much of what we give our children is what we once longed for ourselves. My own mom, for example, was never allowed sleepovers. She longed for them — the late-night adventures, the whispered secrets, the laughter and bonding with friends that seemed so magical from the outside. She felt like she was missing out on a part of childhood she craved. So when she became a mom, she gave us that freedom with joy, making sure we could experience the fun, the camaraderie, and all the shenanigans.

In that moment, I saw how this cycle continues. We’re all rewriting parts of our stories through our children — giving them what we didn’t get, and doing our best with what we know. Our kids will have their own stories, their own challenges. What we’re doing for them now may become their baseline, and they’ll stretch even further.

Parenthood is a thread of love, woven into the chain of generations. Each of us trying, in our own way, to love better, to do better. Sometimes we fall short. Sometimes we soar. But it all comes from the heart.

This exact feeling inspired the CONNECT collection — a quiet, heartfelt tribute to the bonds between generations, and the enduring love that carries us forward.

CONNECT ACROSS GENERATIONS