Letters from Wendy
A Mother's Day letter.
There is no interview for motherhood. No job description, no onboarding, no performance review that captures what it demands of you or what it gives you back a thousandfold.
I became a mum and I have never stopped becoming one.
Four children. One beautiful granddaughter. Two businesses with teams I consider, in the most genuine sense, part of my family. The maths of love in my life doesn't add up on paper. It just works, the way family does, not because it's tidy but because the commitment never wavers.
I lead with love. I learnt early, thankfully, to be curious before I got upset or angry. To ask before I assumed. To choose love first. Today my favourite accessory is my LOVE necklace, which I wear every day as a reminder.
For a long time I thought that made me too soft, that caring so deeply was somehow a weakness. I'm not embarrassed by it anymore. I'm proud of it.
My own mum showed me what that looks like. To be supportive in the way that holds someone up without holding them back. Available, not as a performance of love but as the quiet, consistent truth of it. She accepted me completely, which is the rarest gift one person can give another.
That's the blueprint I've worked from, in my family and in ours at Saddler's Creek.
People ask me how I manage it all. Honestly? I don't always. There are days that are exhausting, complicated and completely unhinged, and I wouldn't trade a single one of them. Well, that's what I tell myself.
"You can't appreciate the calm unless you've sat in the middle of a storm. The chaos isn't the enemy of the good life. It's proof you're living one."
My favourite moments aren't necessarily the big milestones but the small, ridiculous ones. When my kids say I'm their best friend. When we're all together and someone says something or doesn't say anything at all, and we all dissolve into laughter because we were already thinking the exact same thing. We are, in those moments, completely and utterly one.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
The same thread runs through everything we do here at Saddler's. Show up. Be consistent. Accept people for what they bring. Create something safe enough for everyone to be honest and strong enough for us all to feel proud to be part of it.
Motherhood taught me all of that before business ever did.
To every mum, step mum, foster mum, and anyone carrying both roles in our Saddler's Creek Wines family, whether you're raising children, fur babies, leading teams, nurturing something you've built from nothing, or all of the above: what you're doing matters more than you'll ever be told. The love you give in the middle of the mess, that's not despite the chaos. That's because of your strength.
Happy Mother's Day.
Love, Love, Love
Wendy xx
Letters from Wendy is a weekly thought drop from Wendy Laureti at Saddler's Creek Wines.
