On being a mother

Motherhood is the best job in the world.  I didn't always think so.  I'll be honest and say that when my kids were younger there were many difficult days, days when I cried, and days when I wanted to run from the house screaming.  But I stuck with it and I stayed with them.  I did it because I knew that being a mother was more than changing diapers and feedings, and burpings and endless laundry.  I knew that these little human beings although wrapped in smaller packages, were still my equals and that someday they were going to grow up; that the kind of adults they grew into depended, in large measure, on what I chose to do then, when they were little.  They needed to be loved and fed and taught right from wrong.  I made ALOT of mistakes over the years, but they (the kids) stuck with me, and forgave me, again and again and again. . . .

Some days I find myself looking around in surprised wonder.  I look up to  find that I'm surrounded by intelligent, funny, creative, and really good people and I wonder where they came from and how it is that I am so blessed to be their mother.  I look at them and my heart swells.  I can't imagine not having had any of them in my life.

And even though I still have hard, sad, painful, and/or irritating days, (like earlier today when I was trying to blog and it was really hot,  and I was having a serious case of writer's block and everyone kept coming into the room and reading over my shoulder and asking me what I was writing about), I've come to a place in the river, where the water runs more smoothly for me.  More than half of my children have reached adulthood or are on the verge of it.  The load is lighter because we share the work.  We have intelligent conversations about things that I like to talk about.  We laugh at the same jokes and read a lot of the same books and like to watch the same movies, except for Mary who can't stand Jane Austen.  And I find that my very best friends are here within the walls of my own home.

I truly believe that motherhood is the best job in the world, not just because it's so very important, but  because the rewards are out of this world.

Taken about seven years ago.  We've come a long way together since then.