There are three exhausted, sunburned boys in three snug beds tonight. We had such a happy, fun-filled, gorgeous weekend, which always makes me feel re-connected with my boys and myself.
There's a poem that goes "But whatever we lose, like a you or a me; It's always ourselves that we find at the sea." I can't remember who wrote that at the moment, and I am too lazy right now to look it up, but it is true. We find ourselves at the sea, as individuals and as a family. I wonder what it is that makes us so happy there? I can see the kids, who have been bickering and full of "attitude" and posing, drop all of their baggage on the sand and become who they are: Happy kids. Kings with castles. Fishes. Knights. Loving friends, who hug without embarrassment. Sharing brothers. Chess maniacs. Card sharks.
And I can see my friends: NOT harassed working mothers, late for a meeting, missing a deadline, trying to get the kids to school on time against all odds and keep the house tidy. No, they become who they truly are: Mothers who want to build a puzzle seven times, make a sandcastle, sleep cuddled up with their "Big" kids in one bed. Mothers who sit and peel sixty oranges and marvel at the orange-sucking capability of ten boys. Mothers who don't fall into bed at nine o'clock, but stay up till all hours after the kids are asleep playing scrabble and providing therapy for free, marriage advice, love, chocolate and wine.
We have to do this more often. It's medicine.
There's a poem that goes "But whatever we lose, like a you or a me; It's always ourselves that we find at the sea." I can't remember who wrote that at the moment, and I am too lazy right now to look it up, but it is true. We find ourselves at the sea, as individuals and as a family. I wonder what it is that makes us so happy there? I can see the kids, who have been bickering and full of "attitude" and posing, drop all of their baggage on the sand and become who they are: Happy kids. Kings with castles. Fishes. Knights. Loving friends, who hug without embarrassment. Sharing brothers. Chess maniacs. Card sharks.
And I can see my friends: NOT harassed working mothers, late for a meeting, missing a deadline, trying to get the kids to school on time against all odds and keep the house tidy. No, they become who they truly are: Mothers who want to build a puzzle seven times, make a sandcastle, sleep cuddled up with their "Big" kids in one bed. Mothers who sit and peel sixty oranges and marvel at the orange-sucking capability of ten boys. Mothers who don't fall into bed at nine o'clock, but stay up till all hours after the kids are asleep playing scrabble and providing therapy for free, marriage advice, love, chocolate and wine.
We have to do this more often. It's medicine.
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