In the past, Kurtis has always taken the kids to school and then I'd pick them up from the bus stop. This year b/c of the change in schools and trying to get everyone to their respective schools, our routine has changed. I'm the one now who takes the boys to school. Izzy rides with Papaw. I load all 3 boys in the van and drive to Sam's school first, then Kal's. Depending on our plans for the day, Zeke and I just do what we need to do. Then Daddy picks all the kids up at Izzy's school at the end of the day (the boys ride shuttle buses from their schools to Izzy's). Anyhoo....
While driving the boys to school last week, I was pondering what it was like for my mom when she had a 10 year old (as that is Sam's age currently). When my mom's oldest, my sister Becky, was 10yo, my mom also had a 7yo boy, a 4yo girl, and an infant girl (me). I have a 10yo boy, an 8yo girl, a 5yo boy, and a 2yo boy. She was 30 years old. I'm 36 years old. She was a stay at home mom and wife to the Chief of Police. She sewed a lot of our outfits, Halloween costumes, and made our birthday cakes with a cake decorating kit that she got a garage sale. She was den mother to my brother's cub scout den. And if she had to, she drug us girls around to the den mtgs and put us in a corner where we wouldn't bother the boys. She was active in her church and had a few friends that mostly had kids the same age as hers. She even took all four of us to see Darth Vader when he came to the Dayton Mall in 1981. She swore she'd never do an event like that again!
Needless to say, I have a lot in common with what my mom was and was doing when her kids were the same age as my kids. I had my kids a little later in life than her, also had them faster in years as well. My husband is able to be way more involved than my dad was. Not that my dad didn't want to be involved or that he was absent. He was there, quite a bit. But I've heard the stories of the year there was a blizzard and as Chief, Dad was out in the snow, going to people's homes, and helping get them out. All the while, my mom was at home with her 4 babies, literally weathering the storm and praying that my dad would come home safe. I can't imagine the loneliness she felt at times. But I've never heard her complain about it or mention it. She just did it. B/c that is what you did. You lived your life and you thanked God for the little blessings where the kids are healthy and safe and you have food, clothes and a roof over your head.
I love being there for my kids. I'm constantly worn out. I'm exhausted. We've had a rough couple of weeks and things are breaking left and right. Zeke popped his elbow out of socket, Kal had a double ear infection, Sam broke a bracket off of his braces and Izzy broke her arm after falling off the monkeybars at school. Add Halloween to the mix with class parties and trick or treating. Costumes and candy. Oh yeah, the boys' window began leaking from a rainstorm two nights ago and there is a leaky pipe under the refrigerator. Life right now is not all peachy! I'm feel hit from all sides in a way. But I'm also thinking of my mom. All that she's done for her kids and now her grandkids. The hard work that it takes to be a mom. The guilt you feel when you aren't the greatest or you make mistakes. Life is a series of events that happen to us. Living is how we react to those events. I have a life. But do I live? I'm trying! Meanwhile, I have plenty to keep me busy driving my kids to school.
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