I was one of those people who always knew that I would have children someday. To be honest, I always pictured myself having a son and a daughter. Mike used to tease me about my hypothetical daughter who would hide her issues of Seventeen and Glamour under her mattress and resist any efforts on my part to get her to read Ms.
If you had told me that I would be the mother of THREE sons, I would never have believed you. I would never have planned to have three children to begin with, and three boys??? Who would wish that on herself? :)
And after a week when both Mike and I have been feeling tremendously overwhelmed by the complete mess and utter disaster that we call a home. Kieran declared that he loves living in a mess. All of our attempts to keep our house in order miserably fail. And yes, some would say that we do not have our children well trained enough to pick up after themselves on a regular basis (true) and furthermore, we should have cleaned all weekend instead of going to Family Fun Night at the community center, going to the Farmer's Market and the movies, having visiting-from-out-of-town friends over for dinner Saturday night, and going to see the spawning salmon and hiking in the gorge. Quality time over quality cleaning is our motto.
I just read a few lines in an essay and I was struck dumb by their beauty and perfection:
These words are from a column called "Mama at the Movies" by Caroline Grant, and posted on a wonderful web site and e-zine, Literary Mama.
This, indeed, is what I want.
If you had told me that I would be the mother of THREE sons, I would never have believed you. I would never have planned to have three children to begin with, and three boys??? Who would wish that on herself? :)
And after a week when both Mike and I have been feeling tremendously overwhelmed by the complete mess and utter disaster that we call a home. Kieran declared that he loves living in a mess. All of our attempts to keep our house in order miserably fail. And yes, some would say that we do not have our children well trained enough to pick up after themselves on a regular basis (true) and furthermore, we should have cleaned all weekend instead of going to Family Fun Night at the community center, going to the Farmer's Market and the movies, having visiting-from-out-of-town friends over for dinner Saturday night, and going to see the spawning salmon and hiking in the gorge. Quality time over quality cleaning is our motto.
I just read a few lines in an essay and I was struck dumb by their beauty and perfection:
"Maybe no one would sign up for the family that they've created, but honestly, not all of us would, if given the choice beforehand, choose exactly what we've gotten with our families, either. It's only after your family is in your heart that you can say, 'This, this is what I want. What a surprise.'"
These words are from a column called "Mama at the Movies" by Caroline Grant, and posted on a wonderful web site and e-zine, Literary Mama.
This, indeed, is what I want.
What a lovely post, and a gorgeous family! I have that same struggle (the work! the mess! the family!) but I agree with your choices; I take time with my guys over cleaning any day, too. I'm so glad my column resonated with you. Thanks for commenting!
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