Standing Still

Do you ever feel like all that you are, all that you do, you do for your children? You cook for them, clean up after them, tie their shoes, wipe their noses and their butts. You pick out their clothes and put together toys. You drive them here and drive them there, to sports, to clubs, to birthday parties. You help them with their homework, play games, do crafts. You read endless books and make up countless stories. You watch G rated movies most of the time. You comfort their boo boo’s, put an end to their squabbles. You are the human napkin for their tears. You watch, you listen, you sing. You negotiate with them through the waters of their very lives, their core is your core. It is more work than you've known before or will know again, it is exhausting and it is so worth it. Isn't this the way it is supposed to be? Isn't this what it means to be a mother? I have a favorite quote, it’s from “The Bridges Of Madison County.”

“You build a life of details and then you just stop, and stay steady so that your children can move, and when they leave they take your life of details with them.”

That’s what we do. We stand still, so that our children can grow around us.