This is one of my favorite photos from the trip to Marco Island for Rachel and Chris' wedding. It was the day after the wedding at the home of some friends there on the island. Happy is the one word I think about when I see it.
As I've been preparing for this weekend's reception in Fort Smith, I have had some time to think about why we do the things we do. I have been slowed to a turtle's pace with the knee surgery, canes, crutches and physical therapy. For Heaven's sake, I have even ridden on one of those motorized things for the elderly at the stores! Yes, that was me you saw scooting across Wal-Mart the other day! I have been driven to doing things I thought I would never do!
Yet, in all of the craziness that is so often my life, I have had moments of real joy and clarity. I have found that when you love people you do what you do and overlook the rest. It is strange to have my children growing up and becoming so independent that they don't need me to make decisions for them like they once did. I worry less about them. Maybe that's a bad thing. But, I think it is just that I have had the chance to think about what great children they are....or adults, I should say....and that even in the face of mistakes, they will survive. I have helped to give them those skills. They've had to take the good genes with the bad. There have been a lot of wonderful people surrounding them physically and prayerfully all of their lives. Many of those people joined us for Rachel's wedding and many others will be at the reception Saturday. It will be a happy occasion. It is a celebration of how Rachel and Chris came together and have become a family. It is wonderful to watch love.
And they are loved. Now I have five children...all loved. My love for them may sometimes seem odd and old fashioned, out of date and silly. But it is love for sure. I never would have thought I was capable of so much of it. But here we are. With busy days ahead until Saturday, I want to soak it in and enjoy every minute of it.
This year has been a bumpy one for me personally, beginning with January 17th when I found out that the job I loved and depended on for financial security would no longer be mine. I have rocked and rolled through one of the wildest rides of my life, even having never been on a roller coaster in my life! It looks like it is going to end well.
And for anyone, that's really all that matters.
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