The truth about life is…it’s hard. One theme of 2016 I’ve heard repeated is that it was pretty hard on a lot of us. Some folks are just weary from the weight of the year. We’ve gone through rough patches of all different sorts.
UPDATE: The winner of the Ann Voskamp The Broken Way study pack is…SUSAN LANDRY! Congratulations, Susan!
We’re in single digits now. That is, number of days until we move my girl into her dorm room. Throughout her senior year, I teared up (sometimes outright cried) at all the “lasts.” Her last fall drama. Her last high school musical. Her last Prom. Her last Spanish Club meeting. Her last last day of high school.
Then came graduation. That was a crazy tough one for me. I was bursting with pride when she climbed the stage, her gown adorned with honor cords and medals. She did us and herself proud. I swore I could still see the bouncing toddler who never left my side and wanted to scoop her up and run away from all this growing up stuff and slow it all down.
I had a few moments to relax the other day during this busy season in which my kid is graduating, and as my eyes fell closed, I tried desperately to go back in time in my memories so I could listen again to the sounds of my children’s younger voices.
With all my heart I wanted to hear those toddler and little-kid voices, feel their little selves as they melted into my arms when they were sad or tired. I wanted to remember the exact way it felt when I’d hold them in my lap and read them stories or sing to them as they drifted to sleep for the night.
I wanted to be present back when they were tiny and came bounding into a room, excited to see me and share something new they’d discovered. Or when they were simply playing on the floor with toys and turned to look at me and say “I love you, Mommy.” Oh my heart.
Do you feel sometimes like you’re “just here”, not really meaning all that much to anyone, unsure of your purpose? Do you struggle, like I sometimes do, to find your worth?
We want to know that what we do makes a difference to someone.
Maybe you’re in a transition phase of life. You’re single again. You’re an empty-nester. You’re a young adult. Being in a new station in life can really cause you to stop and ponder “now what am I supposed to do?”