Saturday, October 25, 2008

Friday's Fond Memories
Lovin' on our Kids

This weekend is serving as a reminder of a lot of things for me. First, how I should not overcommit my time as it makes me extremely irritable and not a very nice person to be around. Second, and more importantly, that there is a very SPECIAL love a mother has for her children. My sister and I trudged the children out to the very-muddy pumpkin patch this morning - simply because someday we will *fondly* remember watching them hold hands as they trip through the pumpkin vines in search of the oddly-perfect pumpkin. Over lunch, after getting all five children situated and eating we began to chat and suddenly Emily's sweet little girl pulled a move straight out of The Exorcist as she projectile vomited all over the table without warning. My sister's first reaction was to pat her back, tell her it's 'ok' and then to clean it up without a wince or look of disgust. Someday Natalie will *fondly* remember how much her mama loved on her, even when she was gross. As we rushed back to KC to our next activity J covered her fingers, clothes, face, etc in chocolate chip cookie. I threw her in the tub with C in the short time we had to prep for the parade and soon I heard "Mommy! The tub is full of poop!" [sorry if you have a weak stomach, this was not a day for the weak of stomach!] So I quickly pulled two giggling girls out of the tub to prep for their next big appearance. Someday we will all *fondly* remember bath time, and giggling, though probably not the poop so much. It all reminded me of a story my Grandma tells of a day she took my uncle [the sweet boy in the middle of my mom and Aunt above] to buy new shoes. He was very little, and shoes were no small expense. She picked them out, put them on his little feet and drove home. Upon pulling in the driveway and retrieving my uncle from the back seat she found him to be without shoes. She asked him where they had gone. He replied "I didn't like them, so I threw them out the window". And indeed, back in the day before car A/C he had, indeed, thrown his brand-new shoes out the open window somewhere down the highway. What is beautiful about this story is hearing my Grandma tell it. There is a laughter in her eyes that takes her back over 40 years ago, and she smiles the whole time. She *fondly* remembers these times, because there is a SPECIAL God-given love we have for our kids, even in the ugliest, grossest, messiest, costliest moments.

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