Someone recently said to me, "I can tell by your hashtags, '#gratefulness' has a special meaning to you."
You bet it does!
At the experienced age of 19, I was excitedly married in September 1987 and had our first child in March of 1989. Looking back, I think how in the heck did we do it. I'm so #grateful for it all! I'm grateful everyday for the life we provided for our children growing up. How did we figure out how to raise two children? We had examples in our lives, that helped... but we were extremely independent, especially after we got through the first few years. We rolled with it, we enjoyed every minute of being parents and we worked our butts off to provide the best life we could for our children.
Rules we lived by: (although back then we probably didn't recognize them as rules)
1. Always be present. Don't miss a game, volunteer at children's school functions, provide support, ALWAYS!
2. Support trying different things! The list is long, for that I'm grateful.
3. Everyone has a voice. As parents, we don't always have all the answers.
4. Go with the flow, be silly, laugh and have fun.
5. For teenagers, ask questions but trust. This can be very hard when there are challenges present.
6. Give unconditional love. Things are going to happen that we as parents might not like, it happens. Deal with it and move on. We learned to provide trust again. If it's not provided, it can't be obtained.
7. LISTEN
What does this have to do with my fabulous Mother's Day? Well, I sat back, watched and let it all sink in that we DID do a good job of teaching and loving our children. We all did a great job together! The fantastic four, as my husband calls us. Our children are now 21 (22 on Thursday) and 25. I watched these two amazing adults prepare a wonderful Mother's Day dinner, along with their father. They are so thoughtful, loving and kind. Such a joy to be around. We had entertaining conversations, good laughs and I thoroughly enjoyed the day and their visit.
It was a perfect day. A day I will always treasure. #grateful
Thank you,
