Thursday, December 29, 2011

Year-End Countdown: #3

I originally wrote this post on May 9 in honor of Mother's Day.  It is still one of my favorites!


Sing!

I had a great Mother's Day.  I woke up to find a kitchen counter full of cards, drawings, and a beautiful, very special bracelet.  Later, I spent a relaxing afternoon not doing much of anything and the children actually weren't fighting!!!

In between the morning gifts and the afternoon down-time, we went to church and I did something I would normally NEVER do - I sang.  I stood on the steps at the front of the sanctuary, in front of the whole congregation and sang.

Now there are two things you should know about me.  1) I love music.  2) I have not one ounce of musical talent.  I took piano lessons for years and it just never came naturally to me.  The only time I usually sing is when I am alone in the car (which is not very often!).

However, both my older girls are in the children's choir and the children's choir director at our church (who, by the way, is probably the most fabulous children's choir director on the planet!) actually composed a Mother's Day song and asked the moms of the choir children to sing with them.  Fortunately, all of us moms who would not normally sing were accompanied by the women from the adult choir and the song was BEAUTIFUL!  There were tears from many people in the pews.

For me, the song was a reminder of what Mother's Day is all about in a couple different ways.  Of course, the words of the song were elegant and poignant.  But, what really got me was all the moms who totally stepped out of their comfort zone to support their kids - the moms who, like me, don't sing.  On this day, though, they came to the front of the church and stood with the choirs and did just that - they sang.  That is what being a mom is all about - doing whatever it takes to be there for your kids.

When you are a mom, you do things you never thought you would do.  For example:

  • I never thought I would worry so much about everything.
  • I never thought I would get excited about someone else using the "potty."
  • I never thought I would be so happy to feel the excruciating pain of labor.
  • I never thought I would yell out loud at someone else's softball game.
  • I never thought I would care so much about another person's outfit, menu, hairstyle, or clean underwear.
  • I never thought I would dedicate an entire room of my house to toy storage.
  • I never thought I would be so thankful for Dora/Mickey Mouse/Imagination Movers/etc. "On Demand."
  • I never thought I would stay up all night to attend to another person's needs without any regard for my own well-being.
  • I never thought I wold drive across town at 8:30 on a Saturday night in the pouring rain to deliver a rescued baby bunny to a wildlife professional.
  • I never thought I would save cherish cut off locks of hair or fallen out baby teeth.
  • I never thought I would stand up and sing in front of an entire church congregation.
I have done all those things and then some in the past eight years, though, because that's what mothers do.  We give everything we have - and some things we didn't even know we had - to our kids.  And, when it is important to our kids, we sing!!!  We hope our sacrifices make them better people. We hope they are appreciative.  But, really, hugs and kisses are the only "thank you's" we need.  

Thanks to my mom for all the sacrifices you have made for me.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for giving me the opportunity to be a mother.  Most of all, thanks to my three beautiful girls for teaching me to "sing"!  

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