I am so grateful to be a mother. And I LOVE the phase of motherhood that I am in. I am so sad thinking about how soon I will be in another phase, with my children starting to leave. But I can't spend all my time thinking about that, can I? There's too much to think about in the moment. There's so much going on all the time, but in such a different way than when my children were little. I am finding such joy and satisfaction in watching my increasingly independent children run their lives. Sometimes I have way too many opinions about that very thing, but I'm learning to sit back and be quiet a lot more. I was reading a book the other day about mothers, and I found this thought that jumped out at me:
God knows a mother
needs fortitude and courage
and tolerance and flexibility
and patience and firmness
and nearly every other
brave aspect of the human soul.
But . . . I praise casualness.
It seems to me the rarest of virtues.
It's useful enough when
children are small.
But it is important to
the point of necessity
when they are adolescents.
- Phyllis McGinley
I don't know who Phyllis McGinley is, but I think she has hit on something good here. My adolescents sure do seem to appreciate me more when I am casual about things. Not always easy to do, but something worth thinking about . . .
2 comments:
Wow--great quotes. I'll be copying those down. You are an exemplary mother of teenagers, which is great for me, because that means I know just who to call when my kids get there and I'm panicking. Happy Mothers Day to a hero of mine!
I LOVE that. Even as a tween mom I'm discovering how true that is at our house--trying to let things be "no big deal" (unless they really are) makes for a more relaxed relationship with my kids and, I think/hope, a feeling that yes we have high expectations around here but we're all on the same side and can go easy on each other trying to get there. I hope we can apply the same wisdom as our family dynamics change with teenagers and that we hang onto the ability to laugh at ourselves together. I'm enjoying the beginning of what you are talking about--Brayden is really maturing and it's a joy to interact with him on a mom/son level but also on a friend level. It's getting trickier in some ways and more rewarding in others. Keep the wisdom comin', I will use it!
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