Refreshing

Simple, fun times in the yard with some favorite boys.

There's no point in lining up one aspect or time frame of motherhood with another and speaking of relative ease or comparative effort; i.e., it's actually not easier or harder taking care of little ones versus negotiating with teenagers; its different. Family is one lifelong, everlasting thing. It's never the same from moment to moment, or person to person or child to child. Because of this fluidity and enormity, to make any analysis of one's life as a mother based on any one time period or experience or the experiences of another person would at best be based on incomplete data and at worst be destructive to the soul of a woman. Remember The Blind Men and the Elephant? My elephant is not a snake, even though it seems that way sometimes. 

Sometimes I limit my view like that, though. Do you know what I mean? I can't get the snake idea out of my head because it's my current experience.  

It helps my vision to look at things from different angles. I can see the same situation in a new way. Today, as I often do when I am honored to care for the little ones of my dear friends, I see the clearer, more complete picture of life and motherhood. My eyes look up from what's happening right this second and I remember to take in the view. 

And it's a good view.