When the day comes......

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my family and I went to visit my parents. As an adult, I have always lived within twenty miles of my parents and even worked for them for seven plus years where I spent most of my days with them. Then, two years ago they retired. They had lived for thirty years in one small city and felt it was time for a change of pace. Unfortunately, they chose to retire about two hundred miles away. At first it was extremely difficult for me, being the youngest of four children and very spoiled, to accept that they were going to be such a far distance away. I was understanding however to the fact that this was a good change for them as they were retiring to the country where my mother could listen to birds sing, watch squirrels play and plant a beautiful flower garden. My father would have acres of land to manage and a shop to tinker in.

In time, I have adjusted to the miles between us and although it is not my ideal choice to have my beloved parents so far away, I can say that over the past two years I have come to appreciate and understand their love for me and my family in a way I never knew before.

You see, as a mother I have an undeniable, sometimes crippling love for my children. Over the seventeen plus years that I have marveled in my role as a mother, I have poured my heart and soul into caring for them, protecting them, carressing them, feeding them, and so on. I believe in living for oneself, not for others. However, my children give my life a meaning and purpose which surpasses all my own selfish hopes, dreams and cares. As they have grown, I have had to face the realization that they are growing up and in a way outgrowing me. I know that this is not an intentional thing, it is but the flow of life. In realizing this, I can only reflect on the feelings of my own parents. How much they love me and my siblings, how they must feel to love us all so very much that it aches in their hearts to not witness and behold the glory of our lives as innocent children any longer.

Over the past year, I have undoubtedly changed as a person, a mother and a wife. By realizing the longing that my own parents have for their children and grandchildren, I have come to take more value in the everyday ups and downs that being a mother has bestowed upon me.

When my parents moved away, I worried most about myself and how I would cope without their support and involvement in my everyday life. In turn, it is they that I believe ache more for us.

I truly dread the day my children leave home. I see the longing my parents have for days gone by when they wiped our tears, held us in their arms, laughed so hard at our silly jokes that it hurt and taught us how to drive.

I do not mean to paint a picture of my parents living somberly. They have had a wonderful life, blessed with so much to be grateful for. They enjoy the life they have lived together over the past forty-five years and look forward to many, many more.

Years ago, my husband and I spent some time with some very wonderful people during the last months of my grandmother's life. During her stay in an assisted living facility he and I would go to visit and serve coffee and cookies to the residents there while listening to them tell of their lives. I have never witnessed so much happiness come from a ailing man as when he spoke of his beloved wife and the children she blessed him with. Or from the fragile women whose eyes lit up as she told of the man she knew she would call her husband as soon as her eyes laid upon him and how that instinct led to their fifty wonderful years together in a house filled with children. Not one of them spoke of their business successes, awards or material possessions they acquired. They only spoke of the joyous lives they lived because of those they loved whom loved them in return.

When you are nearing the end of your life, when you have nothing but time to reflect on all that you are and what you have done in your time here, what will you find the most glory in? What will once again ignite a passion and love in your heart and a sparkle in your eye?













Quote for the day: The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed in the bosom of my family. ~ Thomas Jefferson