The Best Journey

It’s Mother’s Day or well, technically now the day after and I thought about letting it pass but then remembered that I blog because it’s my best way to remember life.  And for some reason, this Mother’s Day I had so many emotions and thoughts going on, so bear with me as I try to do my best to put into words all I’ve been feeling on this day.

To start, I have two moms.  The first, was my birth mother, who carried me for nine months and then gave me away because she could not care for me anymore.  The second was who I will always think when I think of my “mom”.  She was the one who got to love me and raise me and teach me all about being kind and good.  She also taught me to love and follow Jesus.  I knew that when I became a mom, I would very much like to be like her and I’d like to say in many ways, I am.

Becoming a mom was surprising and terrifying and amazing and to be honest, those early years were a bit of a blur.

I learned quite quickly that my heart could have the capacity to instantly love our kids both then and forever.  I learned that I would make many mistakes, but that somehow love could truly cover a multiple of wrongs, like the Bible says it can.

I learned that many days would be filled to the brink with the ordinary and the mundane, but that the accumulation of those days would eventually add up to something quite great.  The picture below is actually from a minute video clip that Jeremy must have taken forever ago on an old camcorder.  We raised our kids before the days of iPhone conveniences, so I don’t really have as many videos to remember them by.  But this one that I do, I cherish.  I was simply helping Christian get ready for bed, and like I mentioned before, it was ordinary, but also a very sweet memory.

I learned that things really were quite simple and easy when they were small.  This is something that I never knew back then, but that I know now.

Then I learned that if you blinked just a few times, the days and weeks and years would fly by and soon you’d be dealing with some in between ages that no one really talks about.  These would be the times that are hard because they just are.  It would be easy to feel alone in these times but the best thing I could do was to reach out to others because really, truly we never have to be alone in what we are going through.

And in the more recent years, I’ve learned that it’s really hard to parent teens and almost teens.  That many of your days will be filled with eye rolls and noises of seeming disgust for no apparent reason.  But if you bear with them and hold on, these things pass and your normal and amazing kids are there again.

I’ve learned that it is really easy to complain about the teenage years, but what’s harder but better is to embrace them because amongst the hard there are so, so many things to be thankful for.  I’m particularly thankful for this Mother’s Day because it contained some special times with our kids.  This one treated me to brunch yesterday because he worked all day today and we had an incredible time together just talking and laughing and sharing life.  And though I missed his presence, I was thankful and proud of the young man he is growing to be.

Thankfully I had Jeremy and Ellee who spoiled me and fed me and gave me sweet presents and all in all it was a  very nice and relaxing and chill kind of day.

Yes, there have been many things I’ve learned on this journey of motherhood and many more things I’ll learn in the years to come.  And before I end my post, I want to celebrate just a few more things that makes Mother’s Day so special to me.  The first would be my mom.  I know this Mother’s Day was hard for her since it’s the first year without my Grandma.  But I also know she had a lovely day with my sisters and that I am forever grateful that she is our mom.  Speaking of my sisters, I’m hoping that their many children celebrated them because they are quite wonderful moms and I love them both so much.

I also want to celebrate the mom who raised my husband (and his awesome siblings).  Nancy has been a wonderful mother in law to me and I hope she also had a beautiful day.  I know my husband is the man he is today because of the effort she put into raising him to be a hard working and godly man.

And finally, I want to celebrate the many, many amazing moms I get to see and love all in our community here.  I enjoyed seeing your beautiful posts on Facebook and the many ways you were loved and celebrated.  I am so thankful for friend moms and these are a few of the wonderful ones that I know and love so dearly.

Motherhood really is the best journey and even though I’m a day late, I send out so much love to all of my Mom friends, both near and far.  Our jobs as moms are perhaps the most important jobs we have and thank you for all that you put in to being the wonderful moms God has created you to be!

Happy Mother’s Day!