A Lifetime of Love

This week brought about a major life event, and truthfully I am still processing it.  My oldest child, Thomas, graduated from high school. He is officially an adult. My parenting journey with him is finished. At this point, I can only offer him advice.  He is fully responsible for the choices he makes, as well as the consequences.   18 summers. That is what we, as parents, are given to influence, mold, discipline, and train our children so that when the time comes, they are responsible, contributing members of society. It is an arduous task that at times seemed not worth the effort. But, looking back, there really isn’t much I would do differently except perhaps cherish the time we had together. While the days were so, so long, the time has passed quickly! I look back at old photos and the memories they invoke seems like they happened just yesterday. Homeschooling Thomas afforded me the gift of time with him, and if nothing else, that alone made the stresses of...

Mother’s Day began SDW9. I woke up to Titus standing next to my bed with a Christmas-themed gift bag full of stuff. He begged me to get up and as I did, I could hear the other kids upstairs with TJ. When they saw Titus downstairs and me following up behind him, they started scolding him for waking me because they weren’t “ready” for me to come up. When I walked upstairs I immediately noticed signs covering quite a bit of wall and furniture space, as well as the counters and doors. They were all uniquely different expressions of basically “Happy Mother’s Day.” Some were written as acrostics, some drawings, and some distinctly bore the words “Happy Mother’s Day.” I had to chuckle because my kids really know me- a lot of the signs made mention of my love of teaching and reading.           My older boys redid a flower bed for me. It had been ripped up years ago to get rid of the scraggly bushes that were trying to grow, but we had never replanted anything in ...

When we took these pictures, I had no idea these would be the last pictures we took as a class. Looking at them brings so much joy to my heart! What else could the smiles, the laughs, and the fun of dressing up and being silly bring to one’s heart? Today my heart is hurting. I miss these kids. I miss the hugs, the excitement of sharing in their lives, and the thrill of witnessing them master a skill.  I miss my right-hand man (woman) who is so much more to me than my assistant. She is my friend, my idea-bouncer, and the peanut butter to my jelly. She is just as important to the success of the year as I am as the teacher.  We were only a few days away from Family Day, which is the day we sing songs and reveal the art work we have been secretly working on for the past 3 months. The stress of planning the artwork and executing the process was almost to an end, and I was both thankful and excited to reach that point in the year. I had already begun planning our...

TJ surprised me on Saturday by arranging to have a sitter come and stay with the kids while we went out to dinner for our anniversary. Although we didn’t make it to the Cheesecake Factory or the Melting Pot, we did try a restaurant that we had never been to before called Harry & Jean’s. It was very good, and although a little expensive, it had a quiet atmosphere and excellent food. We debated on going to watch a movie, but since neither of us knew what was playing, we decided to order our dessert to go, headed to Wal-Mart and bought “Radio” from the $5 bin, and came home to enjoy a peaceful evening. . . once we got the kids settled. They were really excited all day because a sitter was coming over. We got home shortly after 9pm, so it wasn’t terribly late for them to still be awake. When TJ and I got closer to our house, he asked me if he should park in the garage (he feared the opening garage door would wake up the kids). I chuckled and told him to go ahead because I knew the boys...

I just want to tell you what a wonderful husband I have! I had class today (yes, on Labor Day) and when I got home this afternoon, I found TJ had cleaned the downstairs of the house for me. He cleaned the bathrooms for me yesterday while I was working on a paper for school. It was such a blessing to come home to that surprise! I was able to better concentrate on my paper today because I wasn’t focusing on all I needed to do around the house. Thank you, TJ!

Tomorrow is my 8 year anniversary. If someone would have told me 8 years ago that I’d be married, own a home, attend church 3 times per week, have 3 kids under the age of 4, and stay home with those kids, I would have looked at them like they were crazy and laughed! However, that is the reality of my life, and I am so blessed! Time has passed so quickly. I remember meeting my in-laws for the first time- after we were married! We drove from California to South Carolina and then up to New York for a 3-week “honeymoon”. On the way back home to Cali, TJ got deathly ill and I had to drive the entire way. I am the type that likes to take the scenic route and make the best out of long road trips. TJ is the complete opposite and just wants to hurry up and get there. I took advantage of him being sick and made a short stop on our way home at some salt flats outside of Salt Lake City. He thanks me today for that. We have pictures of us standing on the salt flat, and some of us actually at the Gr...