This getting "back into the saddle stuff" is harder that I thought. My days, weeks and months are whizzing by and I find I get a very small percentage of what needs doing done. Our family is in the thick of preparing for our oldest daughter's wedding in September, and "old Mom" is starting to feel just a bit anxious about all the details yet left to be attended to. Kind of like worrying about having a baby when in reality, it will come irregardless. I watched a wedding show on TLC this morning and it only complicated my emotions....enough of that! I am resolved to make sure that this be a "fun" event for Lindsay (& Ryan) and that we do all we can do ... and all we can do is enough.
I do love this stage of life with my children. Alas, the parenting part is secondary to the friendships we have developed. Getting beyond the birthing, nursing, newborn, toddler-hood, elementary up's and down's, teen angst, independence and now starting their own families gives in many ways a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and thankfulness that all we did wrong didn't "scar" their tender souls irreparably. I remember going to their beds at night as they slept, thinking back over the day and feeling that either my words or actions may have been too harsh to them .... what if they remembered those things the rest of their lives and grew up to not like me???!!! God is gracious in ALL his ways though, isn't He? He spares us as much as our children sometimes.
Well, my friends, not much for you to take home from here today, but thanks for letting me vent. I love you each and every one & pray that as you parent, or be it a friend, you will sense God's presence in your life as well as his forgiveness and graciousness. That we all could grow up to be just like Him.
