High on Being a Mom

I often reflect upon a particular quote I read when I was a young mother.

Jackie Kennedy once said, 

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."

As with so many things in life,  motherhood has its highs, lows, and pretty much everything in between.  

But man, aren't those highs so nice?

On a recent car trip to Rochester, alone,  I had a lot of time to fill

and a lot of thoughts to fill it with.  I had just returned from a 5 day family trip to visit my daughter, Kerry, in Nashville.  We were all there together, and it was wonderful!  I was on a mothering "high".

We haven't been to Nashville since we moved her there last July.

She was facing a huge life change and wasn't really enjoying it.

It was not the best of times.

Seeing Kerry now,  working as a nurse at Vanderbilt,

was a proud moment,

but seeing her smile so freely and be her goofy self

was even better.

Her happiness was contagious.

We were there to spend family time and get a glimpse 

of what her life is like in Nashville.  

And also to meet Fletcher, her cat.

We returned to a favorite eating spot from last year.

We "escaped" .

We played.

We rocked.

We ate.

We hiked.

One evening,  we just sat in the hotel lounge and played rummy.

And when the time came,  we said good-bye.

It was a very special time.

  

Each of us is in a good place in our lives - all at the same time.

How often does that happen?

Kerry talked of plans to go back to school

for an APRN program next year.

Adam was deciding between two job offers to teach high school in New York City starting in the fall.

Annie was excited about moving into her first apartment

in a few days.  She will be living and working in Rochester over the summer - the first summer she will not be home with us.

We were just happy to talk and laugh and enjoy good family time.

I am definitely on a motherhood "high" right now

and enjoying every minute of it!

happy muthers day by sami s. (and my bruther, Adam)

well. hear i am back at this blogging thing agen.

i guess i want too say a few words about my mommy (my hu-man mommy, I meen).

 i feel like I am the right person dog to tell you about her becuz I am always there to sea all the things she duz. I sea all the things she duz that no one else seas. And all the things she never tells any-one that she duz.

Sometimes I try to tell them (the kids) every-thing she duz that they do not sea or apreesheate, but they dont under-stand my langwege. Good thing I lerned how too blog so I can share the things i observe about how speshul my mommy is.

First, i love that she teaches the kids a lots of tricks. And she is soooo pashent!!! Theres one trick called “Take your vitamin D” that Adam still cant do, but she keeps trieing to teach him any way. It must be a hard trick!

I also love that she takes so meny picshers of their lives (and mine to!). So one day they will be able to look back and remember.

Im impressed how she responds when-ever they yell “MOOOOOOMMM!!!” threw-out the house becuz they need some thing (even though it wakes me up from my nappings). sea look, for example, i am not a happy kamper in this pic-sher. but she always helps them out when they yelling for her help.

She also makes the kids indipendent. i still dont know how too feed myself (exsept when I eat cat poop out of that magic box) but she made them know how to get food for them selfs. Even if it means that she explainings a resipea to adam three times on the fone before he gets it! Or if it means she has to copying all her resipea cards, printing out new resipeas, and making a resipea book for each kid. (i wonder if she puts any apple resipeas in their…)

But even though she teaches them cooking and indipendens, I still sea her preparings there favorit foods when she knows the kids are coming home so they can having a nice speshul feeding time toogether. And when their frends come over for play time, she spends hours preparing a big speshul feeding time for them around the big table.

Then, when the kids are away, she duz things like helping adam pick out a job interview clothing by sending picshur messages back and forth. Or helping him when he had that credit card crysis.

And she interupts what-ever she and daddy are looking at on the noisy-picshur-box at night when they call to say hello and tell her the boring deetails of their day. (i still dont understand what they are looking at for so long on that noisy-picshur-box! Thats why i rather watch them!)

And even more, she is constantly visiting them in their far away places, evan tho it can be tired for her. i know this becuz it takes a lot of effort becuz every time she visits them, she take me and halle to play with the doggies at bay-woods. (like hear when she visitd adam in italee or went all the way to roch-ester to see annie).

finally, just like she lets me and halle play all on our own in the big back-yard, she lets the kids go out on their own. even out-side the fence where she cant sea them from the kichen window!

And evan tho she tells me and halle when its time to come in and makes us come in-side, she duznt do that with them. I guess she trusts them that they will come back and she luvs them enuf to let them decide when they will be coming back too us.

Maybe one-day she will trust me enuf to go out-side the fence… put me on a train by myself or evan let me take the car and go have advenchers in other plases! But for now I am glad that she lets them do it and I am so happy to be neer her and enjoy having her as a mommy. i am happy i get too sea all the wunderfull things she duz that only i know about.

o-k I am getting tired. Tie-ping is so tire-sum when you only have paws and no fing-ers. happy! muthers! day! mommy!

No More Breakfast in Bed

Mother's Day is just a few days away.

My family won't be together on Mother's Day this year,

but I am looking forward to our family trip to visit Kerry

in Nashville soon.  We'll celebrate then.

I was thinking today about how we used to celebrate Mother's Day.

I would lay in bed and pretend I was still sleeping

until 3 excited faces showed up at my bedroom door.

One of them had a paper and pencil to take my breakfast order.

Then they ran downstairs to begin their work.

The newspaper was delivered to me in bed to pass the time.

A flower was cut from the garden for a vase.

Toast was made.  Eggs.  Orange juice.  Hand-made cards.

I would hear their voices and picture their faces in my head.

Then my husband would carry the bed tray with the kids on his heels

and set it over my lap.

Sounds luxurious, right?  Let me tell you a little secret.

I always hated breakfast in bed!

I always felt lonely in the bedroom by myself.

I always wanted to be in the kitchen with them

I always felt trapped by the breakfast tray over my lap.

And I always acted like I was the luckiest mom in the world.

Mothers often do such things.

We're happy to put aside what we really want 

to make our children happy.

We teach them how to love by example.

We see the world through their eyes - and learn from them.

Knowing my children were working together to make my day special

was worth any discomfort I was feeling. 

If I had to choose the one thing in my life that has given me the most joy

 and made me into the best person I could be, 

it would be motherhood.

I love being a mom.

I'm also glad the traditional breakfast-in-bed is a thing of the past!

Happy Birthday, Brother

Six Reasons to Pick Up a Pen and Paper

I wrote a letter yesterday.

I found my favorite pen with a nice fine point

and a piece of paper. 

I spent an hour formulating my thoughts

and putting them on paper.

I put it in an envelope with a stamp.

I mailed it today.

I know it will take 2 or 3 days to be delivered, 

but I found myself wondering all day

if she read it yet.

I've become so accustomed to corresponding online

that it's hard to change gears.  While there's no question that emails are faster, are they better?

There are so many reasons to forego technology.  Here are six:

1.  "Sending a handwritten letter is the next best thing to showing up at someone's door.

Ink from your pen touches the paper, your fingers touch the paper, and you seal the envelope. Something tangible from your world travels through the real world until it reaches the recipient's mailbox. They touch the paper that you handled and they see your familiar handwriting, reflecting your unique style and personality. 

Pretty cool when you think about it!

2.  Receiving handwritten letters feels like a gift.

     Who doesn't like getting a package in the mail?  Receiving a 

     handwritten letter from someone special is even better!  

3.  Handwritten letters don't demand an immediate response.

   

     When an email or test message is sent,  the sender usually expects

     you to answer right away.  Letting it sit for even a day frustrates the

     sender and can even cause bad feelings.  Since handwritten letters

     take time to write and mail,  waiting for a response is expected.  

     There is plenty of time to digest what you read before writing back.

4.  Handwritten letters are more thought-full.

     When writing with a pen and paper,  you really need to plan what

     you want to say and organize your thoughts ahead of time.  There 

     is no "delete" button or "cut and paste" option.  To avoid rewriting

     a page,  you tend to slow down and put more thought into your 

     words and ideas.

5.  There is no spell-check.

      While this may seem like a drawback,  I'd like to show you a letter

      written by my father to my mother before they were married.

   I know my mom must have recognized the misspelled word, but most

   likely found it endearing (or funny) and didn't have the heart to let him

   know.

6.  Handwritten letters are usually saved.

I have a big bundle of letters that my father wrote to my mother in the early years of their relationship when he lived an hour or two away from her.  This one from 1951 was written 3 months before their wedding to his "sweatheart".  I can't help but notice how beautiful my father's handwriting was back then.  I wouldn't have recognized it! 

The cost of a first-class postage stamp in 1951 was 3 cents.  He paid

and extra 15 cents for special delivery.  How much faster was that?

Notice, too, that the letter lacks a zip code.  Zip codes were not

introduced until 1963 and not mandatory for another 4 years after that.

Vance and I have bundles of letters that we wrote to each other in the 

years before our wedding in the early 1980s.  We would either mail

them to each other or leave them on each other's desks at work. Someday, our children will read them and learn more about us, 

just as I did of my parents.  These discolored pages were in the hands

of my mom and dad and proved their love for each other.

How many couples today will leave the same gift to their children?

   

Sidewalk Flowers

I came across a book last week.  A picture book.  The little girl in the red jacket is walking with her father in the city.  With the eyes of a child, she looks for the beauty in the world around her.  She has a strong sense of wonder.

Her father is very distracted. He talks on the phone.  His mind is elsewhere.

I was profoundly struck by the power of these simple illustrations.

As a young mother with little children,  it was easy to see the world through their eyes.  They were always finding little treasures - things of beauty - wherever we went. 

They pointed out things I didn't notice.

I don't have young children anymore.  

 I have my camera.

This past week I've done something I've never done before.

I set my alarm to wake up 1/2 hour before sunrise 

and went out with my camera to photograph

the beauty in my world.

As I drove aimlessly in search of beauty,  I felt like the little girl in the red jacket.

Full of awe and wonder, I saw my world as I've never seen it before.

All I had to do was drive around and notice.  See.  

Fuzzy cows, checking me out, made me smile.

A graceful horse wondered what I was doing.

Another made me laugh.

These birds were kind enough to  fly overhead just at the right moment to help make my favorite photo of all.

"Photographs have given us visual proof that the world is grander that we imagined - that there is beauty, often overlooked, in nearly everything."

~ Annie Griffiths, National Geographic photographer

I've never really been interested in landscape photography in the past - until now.  I don't think I understood what it was all about. 

Seeing beauty in the mundane.

Getting pleasure from the unexpected.

Appreciating God's creation.

Becoming a little girl once again.

I would like to credit this book, Sidewalk Flowers.  It was published March 17th of this year.

I have a copy on order for my grandkids (and me).