I’ve known Natalie for nearly two years now. I first met her while working on content for Sauti Academy during my past life as an events journalist.

What I always enjoy about hanging out with Natalie is how open she is. She has a wealth of experience in life and, being on the verge of marriage and children myself, I took the opportunity to pick her brain about what feels like to be a new mom.

Jora, this little angel, came into Natalie and husband’s lives last year and she’s been spreading the joy ever since. For Natalie, it’s been a unique learning curve. Her own mum passed away when she was 11 years old. Now that Jora is in the world, Natalie shared with me that she often reflects on questions she wishes she could ask.

“My dad was amazing, I mean he showed me all of these pictures and shared a lot of stories with me but now that I have Jora, I find that I find myself wanting to ask a lot of questions about being a mom. I even want to know what physical changes she went through when she was pregnant and did she look like me when I was pregnant? What was breast feeding like for her? Is it the way I feel now?”

Natalie shared with me that she wants to make sure that Jora has many photos and moments she can reference to. And I am honored to be the one to capture such moments.

I think about the world today and reflect particularly on what it is like for girls and women. And it’s ruthless.

So, not having mum around to say simple words like, “that’s perfectly normal” can be a very missed luxury when it is not available.

Taking into account that we live in a world where decisions on what is “normal” are made for us (both boys and girls) if we don’t have the loving guides of mum and dad (even uncles and mentors) to set us straight. A lesson in gratitude for having some of the people we have in our lives. Particularly mum!

After spending just a few hours with this beautiful mom and daughter, I can honestly say my life has been enriched just a little bit more.

I salute you too Jora!