Who reflects back to when she had young children, because she feels old and her children appear to be getting older. I find myself talking about the times when they would cover their own eyes and think no one could see them. That was their way of hiding. I remember the years of braces and dental appointments squeezed into after school baseball practice, soccer and basketball. The days of the swim team, CYO meetings, volunteering to be a lunch mother and/or work in the school nurse's office, while holding down a 2nd shift job in a lab, then becoming a lab supervisor, returning to school and studying when a young one was being tutored for reading or memorizing anatomy notes over a kitchen stove preparing dinner. as the young ones sat at the kitchen table to complete homework. They were the days when I spent more time in an ER (thank God I worked in a hospital & could bypass the waiting room) for stitches, broken arms and asthma attacks, as a result of jumping on beds, riding bikes jumping cliffs in the park, playing football without equipment and allergies.
Dentist, Doctor, ER rooms were a normal part of daily living with three very very active boys.
They all knew how to swim by age five years old. We had a pool in the backyard. They spent many vacations searching for seashells, walking in old cemeteries and riding the largest roller coasters. They have been to Disney, Hoover Dam, Williamsburg, Mountains across many states and beaches across many shorelines. We camped. We hiked. We stayed in first class hotels. We did a lot.
I remember the hugs, the cuddles, the sleeping on the floor next to my bed. I remember the Monday Family Nights when we played games like Twister, Life and 500 rummy. We danced to popcorn popping in the microwave, and baked cookies on cold winter days. I remember New Year's Eve spent ice skating, then watching fireworks over the river. We had two dogs named Muffin and Skippy. We had two cats named Leo and Alicia. We came home from the pet shop with two Guinea pigs, and then discovered an additional two more one morning. (Apparently, we adopted a male & female). The awful turtle Shaun brought home that grew into a freaking monster. and had to be let go in a lake. The snake that tried to escape and met its fate in the claws of a cat. There were oh so many cats as the oldest thought to bring every stray home.
Laughter! I remember the laughter! Kids laughing. Kids playing basketball in the house. Kids breaking stuff with those basketballs. Dances came. then the proms, driver's licenses and new cars, college tuition and girlfriends.
Principle's office. Many times. Many Many times. Telling one kid to wear his school shoes, not his sneakers to school. Telling another kid, "I know you think Art is a waste of time, but color damn it!" Telling another kid, "I know you think music class is stupid, but pretend to sing, damn it!" Picking up kids from school where one would be the first person out the door, and the other would be the last person out the door. How many times, I sat in that car listening to one son tell me, "just leave him here, because he has to talk to every single person walking out the door". (in reference to his very social brother)
Christmas mornings with the fire roaring in the fireplace, and gift wrap covering the floor. Breakfast for dinner, silly stories, moody faces, tears. We saw it all. Experienced it all.
Yes. I must be getting older, because I am becoming one of those mothers, I never thought I would be,
No comments:
Post a Comment