On This Motherly Journey

I want to thank all of our readers for enduring my more celebratory kid posts lately. I don't know what has come over me as a mother lately other than sheer gratitude for the ability to bear children, watch them grow, contribute to their learning, and help fashion them as little people in the world. What a privilege! There have been many more moments over the last 6 years than I'd like to admit, where I found myself dreading my role, relinquishing responsibility, embarrassed by my children, and overwhelmed by the great responsibility of parenting children who were, by nature, very different from me. Mothering has been the most challenging role I've ever assumed in life.

But as with most things challenging, it is starting to offer more rewards than I ever thought possible. They are the rewards of acts of kindness shared between siblings, obedience the first time, hugs and lovely sentiments offered to me without request, positive feedback from teachers and coaches. These are the gifts of motherhood. These are the occasional pats on the back to a mom for her labor. I guess you could say I'm relishing these moments as a sort of momentary "thank you" in the midst of this tireless journey.

Bringing it all back to reality, I wish I could tell you my kids always made me proud. But they don't. If you had been a fly on the trellis of our patio luncheon on Mother's Day, you would have seen my frustration and embarrassment over my kids' behavior. I never, never, NEVER intend to paint a solely rosy picture of our day to day over here in G-Ville. It takes work, it takes patience, it takes more of GG and I than we'd ever like to admit. We have bad days, hard moments, frustrating times A LOT. Yet I'm convinced if we weather these tough ones in pursuit of the good times and do it all in love, we're coming out on top in the end. It is a marathon journey GG and I are on together as parents and we are committed to working at our family always. Part of that for me, the mom, is absolutely celebrating our good times, the times that make me smile and bring joy to my heart! Because I've fought for these moments... And I know they are the ones we'll remember. Was our Mother's Day outing perfect? Far from it. But did we walk away commenting on the lovely afternoon together? Yes, indeed.

We've got the good, the bad, and the ugly over here in G-Ville too, we're just zooming in on the positive!

As always, keeping' it real,