Gravel Road Musings

 Motherhood is Trust I lined them up on the porch steps to capture the classic first day of school picture. Amber beamed with the enthusiasm of a first grader and Logan stood reluctantly beside her unsure of what all this meant. (Trust me, the excitement was definitely more prominent than this less than stellar picture portrays) And I cheerfully snapped the picture and excitedly sent her off to her first day of school. And no, I am not the mom who escorts her child in to her classroom and gets her settled in. That had happened the evening before and quite honestly, my daughter is entirely too independent for that. She will go in by herself, thank you very much. But this first day of school is just one more area that moms are continually having to choose to trust. I have to trust that she is ready, I have to trust that we taught her enough to get by. I have to trust that she will make friends, not be bossy, play nicely with others, eat in a somewhat respectful manner, and a host of ...

Motherhood is Repetitious I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes AGAIN!! I paused a moment to holler out the now familiar triple command: "Flush the toilet. Close the lid. Wash your hands". And then I resumed washing the same dishes I had washed the day before and the day before that and the month before that and the year before that. The dishes have grown fewer over the years as more and more have succumbed to the hard tile kitchen floor and been reduced to shards that live on only in memory, but still I washed.  After washing dishes, there were the same counters to wipe AGAIN, the same clothes to fold, the same floor to sweep. There were the same commands to issue, "Come pick up your shoes and put them away." "Go put your socks where they belong" "No, that is not where they belong, go put them where they belong." I have found clothes in odd places because of the lack of desire to put them away right. (A month ago, when I was frantically cle...

I stood at my kitchen sink washing dishes, again, and thought about my poor neglected blog. I've been wanting to write again, but words and timing haven't always aligned and it hasn't happened. But as I stood there washing dishes I thought about the words tumbling around in my head and wondered if I could do a series on motherhood. Each one would be title Motherhood Is followed by a one word descriptor of how I perceive motherhood. So there you have it, the inspiration for the following series.  MOTHERHOOD IS LAUGHTER I wanted to start off with something lighthearted that is motherhood to me. Sometimes being a mom can drag us down, but I think we all need laughter to lighten us up and remind us that these precious little humans we are raising are fun loving beings who need to see the fun in life too. And incidentally, the above picture was taken when I was 38 6/7 days pregnant and let's be honest, crying was the emotion of choice, not laughter. Definitely not laughter I...