As a child I always looked forward to Mother’s Day because it was a day that my entire family got together and I got to spend time with all my cousins and grandparents. It took me a very long time to figure out that cousins on my mom’s side and cousins on my dad’s side were not directly related to one another. I blame Mother’s Day for this confusion. All of us have grown older and now we’ve added a new generation to the mix. Some of us ‘kids’ have gotten married and that has added some more adults as well. Attempting to draw a family tree would be funny, maybe next year. Now that I’m grown, and a mother of two, I’m surprised to find that Mother’s Day doesn’t have a new meaning to me.
I cherish motherhood all year long – I love this season of my life – and I approach the day as another opportunity to see my beloved extended family. My only request to Barry was that I have a couple uninterrupted hours (at some point in my life) to edit photos, work on the photo books and maybe do a blog post or two.
I also feel very, very fortunate to have a mother that is so present in my life. I hope that I can be to my girls what my mom is to me. I’ve had a post stewing in my brain for a bit about my own mom and have even pulled a few awesome photos….
BUT right now our yard has been taken over by my dad, Izak and Izak’s friend, Rich, to expand our driveway and extend our fence. I really don’t have time to be blogging right now or even editing photos. Alas, here I am. Audrey fell asleep (yahooo!!) and Maggie is ‘assisting’ with the digging. I double checked to make sure that the mountain of laundry is still there, wondered if I should take a shower or sweep the dirt up again, but opted for a cup of peach tea (thanks, Sue!) and a Monster Cookie while I sifted through the photos I’ve got.
As I looked through the photos, I kept having this thought of ‘this is what we really look like’ and how I’ve been fighting the fight of wondering how families do it. How do they get it all done? And I am slowly, ever so slowly, coming to the firm truth: they don’t. Everybody essentially has their piles of laundry, weed-filled yards, ignored dirt on the floors, unwashed hair, etc.
As I sit here finishing my tea and eating the last bits of my Monster Cookie, I’m thankful that I get to be a mother to my girls. I’m also thankful that I’ve learned enough about myself that I can walk away from the mess of a busy home for a moment to enjoy a cup of tea and cookie. I know I’ll be a better mother because of it.
I should go check on the digging…..
