Some days come upon us quickly, like realizing that parenthood is almost over. We begin with sleepless nights and keep turning seemingly endless days of toddlerhood, preschool, and so many ballgame nights of elementary school. Our days can become lost in “what’s next” mentality. This fall I seek to find this moment, this hour and relish this day as I see so few of them left in my time as their mother.
Motherhood is something that challenges me. Engaging their hearts, easy, engaging the organization that keeps their world together and clean by the next experience and folded in their drawer, excruciating. The heart part matters more to me, but just as batter is delicious, however without baking there is no cake. Fluid and changeability is important, but so are the structures that support us. It is a season of modeling a life that can sustain them, and so this artist soul worked on consistency and coordination so they would have experience with that. Small things matter, and just as she notices how I use the same wood spoon her grandfather made to mix bread dough, she builds the joy of working side by side, I knew with my grandmother as we baked together as well using the same recipes.
This fall comes with special significance for it is my daughter’s last one as a high schooler, the last season of parenting, our last two in the nest. Our older two have walked the bridge to adulthood and while we love their success in their own world, it is not the same as when they were a daily part of our own. We take every.step.more carefully we two, knowing that they are precious journeys as she enters adulthood. We are close, we two, as the baby daughter and granddaughter after a passel of sons and grandsons. We carry on traditions and practices of my mother and grandmother bringing them with us to daily life through the sharing.
The mums have come up again, reminding me that seasons end to allow for new seeds to grow and for vibrant life to spring forth another day.
