A Poem

I just this minute read this poem on this blog and had to copy it here. I really think it says it all and sums up why I do, what I do.

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.

Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.

Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.

One day I shall dig my nails into the earth,

or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut,

or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.

~Mary Jean Irion

When Meredith was a baby and I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to return to work, a very wise woman advised me to try the SAHM thing first. As she put it, you can always find a job, but you can't capture the first word, the first step, the first anything again. It only happens once. I am so grateful that I have been able to be home with my children. To love them, to nurture them, and to be there for them all these years. I am thankful for the advice I was given and thankful that I had the forethought to follow it. And I am thankful to Dave for indulging me and giving me the opportunity to stay home and do what is important to me.

I feel so lucky that I did not have to miss a single normal day.