I've been thinking a lot about women's roles and what they mean to me. I love my mother and now that I am one, I think I understand her better. Not completely, but better.It is amazing as you go through life, have different trials and experiences, how this enables us to understand others better. As I sit here, two children cry on the floor. One for no apparent reason, the other because she put tights on herself and the seams at the bottoms for some reason are not quite right. This illustrates my point exactly. I know someone out there reading this (my mother?) has gone through the exact situation, if not a very similar one. In ways this is a comfort. If you seek for empathy, you can find it.
If not empathy then sympathy. We are all in this together, and we all have life experiences that we don't always share. There are daughters, sisters, and mothers out there that can understand my everyday struggles that try to weigh me down. No matter what you are going through, there is someone out there that knows your pain. Just because they aren't vocal about it doesn't mean they don't understand.
P.S. The one crying for no reason is trying to pinch me and now has a poopy diaper. The other.......the tights are still an issue but now toys are getting thrown. Back to my life.
If I were to do it all over again in raising my kids I can't say I would do it much different because I was blessed with a perspective to enjoy what you are doing or don't do it. The problem is the people around you more often than not are not on the same page. (ie. leaving for Yosemite without Dad again, sitting in church alone, "I don't like waffles, I want cheerios".)Life has a way of making you feel alone even when your house is full. Full of what is a whole nother matter. But the trick is to have that sweet assurance that comes from within become so loud that those everyday distractions of poopy diapers and ill fitting tights are but a moment of static in an otherwise delightful day. It takes practice to filter out the mondane. And even now I have to take alot of deep breathes when that sixteen year old attitude is right in my face talking to me as an equal. (what is she thinking standing up to me; doesn't she know that is like a featherweight boxer challenging the heavyweight champion, there is no contest, you'll lose.) I stand my ground, look away and enjoy the sunshine that has broken through a very rainy day. When it is all said and done it is not what we did with our lives that will be significant what will make the difference in the eternities will be how we did it. What did we love. Who did we love. And where did we go with it!
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