On my mind today

What a fabulous morning! Well, except for my 10 year old who left in a huff without kissing me goodbye because I would not give him and his heavy saxophone a ride. Boo hoo. Other than that it's cool, overcast and delightful outside. The zucchini bread is in the oven, the bedding is in the washer, the chili will be in the crockpot soon.

We are getting to the end of the soccer-football season around here. I won't miss the juggling and splitting of the family (most of the games are at the same time at two different parks). I won't miss wondering when in the world we're going to have a real meal if we have games from 5:30-7:30. But I really really enjoy watching my boys work hard at something and have fun while learning something new.

I am the props manager for the junior high school musical. It's a lot of pressure but I'm enjoying the creative process of stretching a tiny budget and having to make items that we cannot buy. I won't miss the running all over the place and comparing prices till my eyeballs hurt, but I will miss the interaction with the director. I love having a reason to be at the school. It's not like elementary where you could show up and volunteer to help any one of your kids' teachers, so I am thankful for the chance to hang around and observe Potter.

Speaking of Potter, Strider and I had a discussion about him the other day. His personality is very different from ours and it hasn't always been easy to relate to him. He is off in dreamland way too often (in our opinion) and reads a bit too much (in our opinion) and focuses on housework and schoolwork FAR too little (okay, that's just a fact). But he is now into this whole drama thing and is completely, wholly, in his element.  It doesn't matter that he's not like us and can make a fool of himself in front of others and not care. This is what he was meant to be.

A little while ago, just after rehearsals began, he was sitting on the couch next to me and he was laughing and telling his dad and me all about various scenes and some of the things he got to learn. I got really choked up all of a sudden. It's hard to explain but in a quick moment I was seeing him as more than my goofy oldest child who loves to joke and drive me crazy. I saw him exactly as God sees him - talents and abilities wrapped up in a lively package. I was filled with perfect love. It was a lovely snapshot in time and I'm writing this so I don't forget it.

I get so much satisfaction out of sharing these events that matter in the lives of my kids. I will SO miss them when they are over.  I hope that I can show them individually by my actions how much they mean to me.