What does it take to humble the world’s greatest living athlete? A mini me apparently. Serena Williams took to Twitter Sunday with a parenting tale that any mother could relate to.
“Kids humble us,” the tennis superstar began on Instagram, referring to her 11-month-old daughter Alexis Olympia . “The other day on a flight home, Olympia had so much energy and insisted on running up and down the aisle.”
“When I finally got her to calm down and sit still, she threw up all over me and in the aisle,” Williams added.
Williams refused to be ashamed of the everyday experience, instead using it to empower other mothers on social media by asking them to share their stories of motherhood — even slightly embarrassing ones like her own — using the hashtag #ThisMama.
“#ThisMama wants to remind all mothers the importance of supporting one another through the highs, lows, laughs and tears,” she explained of the new hashtag.
Stories came pouring in not even minutes after Williams made the request.
One of her followers recalled when her dress flew up when chasing her 2-year-old around a grocery store, while another shared a story that detailed she was asked to leave a petting zoo because her child’s cries were scaring the animals.
A first time mother, Williams has taken her fans through every step of her motherhood journey from a challenging labor and delivery process that literally threatened her life to family fun days where Olympia is committed to being fussy no matter what her parents do to try and soothe her.
Now she is using that transparency to uplift other mothers, who like herself, may find themselves getting puked on at 40 thousand feet.
