Motherhood Moments

So many times I find the contrasts in life popping up to look at me. Despite turbulent teens and frequent grumbling (at the time) of the amount of work I thought I had to do at the time, I had a very good childhood. I remember trips to the park (some of my siblings will remember the rocket), the rope swing in the front yard, the tire climber that Dad built for us, roller skating, and tree climbing. As normal and comfortable as that all feels to me, there are always a few moments when it has occurred to me that I am perpetuating some of those things in ways I would not have expected when I got married. Most of us expect to take our children to the park or get them toys that encourage their creativity, but sometimes I have noticed it happening in unexpected ways. For Madison's birthday we bought her a nylon tent set at Costco (a play house, a dome tent, and a center wheel connected by play tubes). Kellen didn't have school yesterday and the kids had all of Madison's baby toys (packed away in the garage until yesterday morning) and this play house set out all over the house. While I was getting dinner ready, they took it apart and were walking around in the tubes. Kellen put two of them over him so that it extended well above his head and tried to follow Madison by listening. They had a blast. At one point the thought crossed my mind that they were really making a mess, followed by the thought that at least they were having fun playing with it. Ordinarily, I prefer not to have the mess, but they were having such a good time with it that I didn't want to make them stop. I am sure there are those who would argue the point with me, but I tend to feel that "Mom" is close, intimate, and soft while "Mother" is respectful and idealizing; I was glad to be "Mom" yesterday, even if it meant sacrificing a somewhat clean house.