So...Baby D can stand. With my help, of course, but he can stand. And now he knows that standing exists, it's like there's no other option. "What, me, sit down? Or worse, lay down?? And look at those silly farm animals hanging on my playmat? Pshaw. You must be joking. Recline in my bouncy seat? Surely you jest, Mom. I can stand, for Pete's sake!" Where oh where is the time going?
I know, logically, that this is the goal-- to teach them to get around in the world without my help. But it's a hard goal, a bittersweet goal. See, I've never had a job before where my goal was to obsolesce. Always before, I wanted to offer something unique, something they'd find tough to replace. I wanted to be a little bit indispensable. Motherhood's not like that. To be a mother is to make an openhanded offering of the best of yourself, to say, Here is most of what I know about making a way through the world. Wouldn't you like to learn it? How to wipe your nose. How to change a light bulb. How to chop an onion. How to say, "I was wrong; I'm sorry." How to pray for your enemies. How to seek God in all things.
I'm better at chopping onions. Oh, God, make me the mother they need me to be.
So true!!! :)
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