The Summer...three months of fun and memories, sunshine and lotion and bug spray and car rides and hikes and baseball and manhunts and ice cream. Thank God for the chocolate ice cream!! I am always learning and discovering new truths about life and love as the days pass and this summer was no different. This is a very small but important list of a few vital things that I have learned in the last couple of months of no school but lots of fun and sun with my boys.
#1-I really will do anything for my kids.
This is one of those things that we always say but are not often given the chance to prove. This summer gave me opportunities to prove it. I really and truly will do ANYTHING for my boys. I will watch hours and hours of ball. I will sleep in a hotel bed and share a bathroom with 3 boys for days, even weeks. I will cheer. I will comfort. I will have your back and be your greatest fan. I tell my boys to choose right, be right, and I will always stand beside them. This summer, I got the chance to show them just how that looks. I stood beside, in front of, and had my boys backs and we all grew closer and stronger because of it. These boys of mine make be proud and I am grateful to do life with them, whatever that "doing" may look like.
#2-We were raised by good stock.
When you have parents who will take your hardest offspring for 10+ nights and never complain or curse or quit, you realize just how precious your parents are. They fed him, bathed him, survived him and all without complaint. That's the best kind of blessing. When you have parents who will drive hours and get eaten by bugs and hang out in hotel lobbies in no-mans land just to cheer for your babies, you realize that your fan base and family base are big and strong and amazing. When you have parents and siblings who text you before, after and during games and watch them online and cheer from wherever there are for your babies, you know how important family ties really are. If Ryan and I do anything right as parents, it is because we were raised by good parents who loved and continue to love and our world is better because of them.
#3-G is more like an appendage than a goiter.
This one is kind of a joke but then again maybe not. G is my “BFF”. He wakes me every morning and stays close to me all day until he finally falls asleep to do it all again. I hear his sounds, know his ways, speak his language and that is what makes our world go round. Now imagine us separated for almost 2 straight weeks. Crazy!! On the rare occasion I am sick, he is concerned and clingy. He calls me if I take a walk or a run just to check on me. He tells me several times a day that he loves me. He twirls my hair and steals my pillows and still loves to sit on my lap and rock in my glider. He breaths my air and is totally in my bubble most of the time. It might seem to some like an awesome break and, while it was easier to do baseball craziness without him, I missed my sidekick like crazy. My sister Emily said it perfectly when she said, “well there you have it! G is more like an appendage and less like a goiter!”
#4- I need Jesus and to move in order to function appropriately. On rainy days, on early mornings, on stressful trips and beautiful beaches...two things necessary for me to live and breath and function appropriately are Jesus and motion. I am definitely a better version of myself when my day starts with Jesus (with a coffee on the side) and, in order to survive the day successfully I should follow up Jesus time with walking or running or some form of physical activity. Those two things wake up my soul and body and then I can live the day, any day. I walked parking lots, streets, the beach, baseball fields, rail trails, etc. You name it, Iʼve walked it and it has helped me. As for Jesus, He really does go where I go and Iʼm blessed daily by my time with him. I had quiet times in my car, in hallways, in hotel laundry rooms, at the beach and on my backporch (my favorite non-bathtub place) and every time He met me and fed my soul. Jesus and movement make me a better version of myself.
#5-The seeds of worry are destroyed by prayer.
Oh the things a mom of boys can worry about! I could write a book! Life is full of unknown and curveballs and what ifs. We never get to know all the answers or the way the story ends. Handling the easy and hard and figuring out how to not screw it all up in the meantime is tough. To deal with that, I have to pray. Itʼs like breathing, an absolute must. When Satan fires an arrow of worry at me, I put my shield up and call on my victor. I pray in the car, the back porch, the bath tub, my favorite chair. I pray out loud and to myself and through my tears. My prayers are far from fancy but they are the real words from a mom, wife, sister, friend who wants to trust and live each day as I should. Wherever I live, wherever I worry, I pray and that is non negotiable.
#6-Coffee pots in bathrooms help with bathroom odors. This is a very helpful tip for anyone who finds yourself in a hotel with one bathroom and multiple males. If there is an odor (and there will be), make that free coffee, even if it is awkwardly placed on the bathroom vanity. You donʼt have to drink it for it to drown out any unwanted odors. Your welcome for that one!
#7-Always laugh...always!
A lesson I learn and live and love! Laugh at yourself. Laugh at your husbands. Laugh at your kids. Make jokes and be merry. Enjoy each moment and chuckle as much as you can. A smile changes the world and a good hearty laugh might possibly change the universe! I am usually joy filled and joyful and when Iʼm not my boys remind me and restore me. We have laughed and cried this summer. I try to be real with my boys and that means that sometimes we gotta shed a tear or two and, we might even holler just a tad but, at the end of the day, we find the joy. I always say that one of the first things that drew me to Ryan was his smile and his personality and now I get see that witty character coming out in our boys. It makes me happy and helps me get through each day, no matter what it brings. My biggest blessings and my greatest joys are my boys (including the daddy of the group!) They are my loves and they make me laugh every single day!! Thank Jesus!
Well, thatʼs it folks! Summers might not be for book learning and classrooms but life lessons never stop! This summer has been jam-packed and beautiful and hard and fun but as it draws to a close, I am grateful all of it. My certain hope is that Iʼm never going to be done growing and learning and becoming and this summer was proof of that.
