Fifteen years (and a month) ago, a few weeks after we had our third baby, I was having a rough time. Having one baby with no family living nearby wasn't easy. Having two babies with no family living nearby wasn't easy. Having the third with no family living nearby?
I was a mess.
One afternoon that guy that I like so much was at work and I just needed to get out of the house, so around our neighborhood lake I went, three boys in tow. Halfway around, with two extremely whiny and fighty older boys and a screaming two week old baby it hit me.
I can't do this.
And I started to cry. Hard. We must have been a sight...three crying boys and a crying mom.
At that very moment, two older women were walking around the lake. They recognized me, their husbands worked with my husband, and even though I tried to put my head down and go by unnoticed (with three crying children) they stopped to say hello.
I couldn't even fake it. I was SOBBING and so were my children. Within minutes I was in this woman's home, whom I didn't really know but in the world that guy that I like so much belongs to, well, everyone knows everyone. She immediately went into Grandma mode...toys and snacks for bigger boys, a rocker and a cup of tea for me, and two women fussing over a newborn baby.
I cried and they listened. They loved on me and prayed for me and took care of me that afternoon at a time when I had hit my breaking point.
Over the next few years, as often happens, we drifted apart...one moved away and the other filled her time with grand babies and I filled my time with my young family, but I will never, ever forget that afternoon when they so unselfishly took care of me.
Every time I saw either of them, they always greeted me with a big hug and a knowing smile.
One of those woman passed away this weekend. She was a lovely, lovely woman who taught me more that day than she will ever know. Kindness. Compassion. Love. I will forever be thankful that God put her in my path on that afternoon so long ago.
=0)
This weekend our crew, which has always been so heavily weighted on the testosterone side of things but is showing glimpses of estrogen here and there, went to the Phoenix Club's OktoberFest after church. Fun music, good beer, and our not so little family just hanging out. These boys of mine...well, I just really like them but why oh why do they have to touch and push each other so much? Will they ever outgrow that?
I don't think so. If you invite us over, hide your breakables. Seriously.
=0)
Laundry is caught up, the house is clean, my in box is down to TWO emails.
Monday, I'm ready for you!
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