Hope, Revisited

 

It’s happened again.

I thought last year was hard but, this year?

Worse!

And aren’t ya glad you came here to read that?

I write about lots of things here, but I don’t write about the worst.  Because those worst things are not for me to write about here.  I just don’t.  But I can still tell you this has been the hardest year ever for me.

However? 

I made it through!  I am still here!

And that? 

Gives me hope.

Spring is just around the corner, folks.  May your life be filled with as much hope as these small, yellow flowers popping up at the base of this stick bush brings me.

Faith….Hope….Love….Peace.

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The Birds Know

This past weekend, the weather turned warm and lovely here.  I know it will turn cold again before the searing heat of summer comes to stay but for a few days, I’m basking in the spring-like weather.  I am so NOT a fall/winter person, I am much more of a spring/summer person.

When the weather turns lovely, I am drawn to my yard and I pick over it, inch by inch, pruning, clearing, straightening.  I have not always been a yard work person but I find in the last few years, I have come to enjoy this work.  It calms me and gives me a chance to think, sort things out.

After doing a bit of work, I felt glad and grateful for the day.  Yard work does that to me.  So, I texted my “yard work sister”, the one that has enjoyed yard work even longer than I have.  (I have a “yard work mom”, too but, alas, she does not text.)

The conversation with my sister went like this:

Me:  I see a lot of spring around this yard= Hope.  Filling the bird feeder.

And ya know?  She was doing yard work, too!  Her answer:

Sister:  Mowed both lawns.  Got some dirt from h.depot 2 fill holes.  Birds r talkin here.

Me:  Here too- thought I heard them say “Fill the bird feeder.”

Sister:  Ever wonder where they r when it rains?

Me:  And then on a random day, I fill the feeder and they r right there.  Our trees r still bare- where r they watching me from?

Sister:  Secret bird clubs

Even after a day, this still makes me laugh out loud.

Spring- thank goodness it’s just around the corner.  At least that’s what the birds say.

And I believe them.

Faith….Hope….Love….Peace.

First Place, Baby!

After eating, sleeping and breathing the Science Fair for three long months, that red-headed kid took first place in the 4th grade. 
 
First place!  
 
I didn’t think he would win first place, and so, being the wonderful, supportive mom that I am, I PUT MY CAMERA AWAY after second place was awarded. 

Mother of the Year- that’s me! 
 
When I made my way up to the stage to take his picture with the principal, I found a kid with the biggest smile ever on his face.  Naturally, I am more than proud of him, but really?  He should be proud of himself- he worked hard and went that “extra mile” that I’m always nagging, I mean, telling him about.

Before walking back to my seat after taking his picture up on the stage, I looked at him and our eyes met for a moment.  It felt like he was thanking me for helping him with that look, saying,  “We did it, Mom!”  We have been through so much together, this boy and I, especially in the last year.  My heart grew a little larger for him in that moment.  After nine years with him, I’m surprised my heart still fits inside my body, it’s grown that much.
 
And I remembered all those late nights and early mornings we shared when he was just a small baby.  I would be so tired but my child development background wouldn’t let me stay quiet:  I talked to him and talked to him and then talked to him some more, knowing that some day, it would have been worth it. 
 
Totally worth it, baby!