I feel like this picture captures my experience of motherhood. It's crazy, fun, overwhelming, fulfilling, exhausting, adventurous, tiresome, humbling, joyful, frustrating at times... I wake up each day thinking, "what can we do today? What will keep the kids occupied and distracted so they don't fight or play kickball against the walls of my house?" It requires every ounce of creativity and patience I've got to do it right. I still come up short quite a bit.
Summer's been a crazy, cool ride. We've had a lot of fun days and some really long days that I thought would never end. School's right around the corner in just nine days. I admit part of me is so relieved, but the other day a cashier at Trader Joe's noticed my three children trailing me around the store with their mini kid shopping carts, racing, spinning out, arguing over who gets to put what food in their cart. He said, "school's almost here and then you'll have some quiet shopping days alone." I smiled at first thinking of leisurely shopping the aisles quietly by myself, but then I felt incredibly lonely thinking about it. What will I do without all this noise the kids make to keep me company?
Mothering is so full of contrasts. It's my greatest challenge and my greatest reward and every day presents new struggles and unexpected happy surprises. It's the journey I'm on.
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