I have two hours at the airport. Our gate is perfectly situated -- right across from the Service Center, complete with outlets and across from the bathroom. And I am accompanied by the most delightful and cooperative travelling companions. They are so easy -- quiet, respectful, compliant.
Being with them made me realize that we have house full of extroverts. Good grief! In fact, we have 3 of our kids who almost talk incessantly and have very little impulse control.
A great contrast to that are these two boys that I am going to spend my week with. They are good conversationalists, but can be quiet for long periods of time. They are consistently appropriate and do nothing to draw attention to themselves. And they can be trusted to sit somewhere without running off.
This morning on the shuttle trip, I just sat and thought. Of course, I sent some messages to twitter and read some blogs, but I did a lot of thinking. And when I read Cindy’s blog entry this morning from my IPhone, I realized something.
I, like Cindy, chose the life I have. And it isn’t an easy one. But this morning, with Leon’s head resting on my left shoulder, and Wilson’s head in my lap, both of them content and snoring softly, my eyes became misty and I thought to myself, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.”
And I realized that even though my life isn’t perfect -- in fact it is very hard -- there are moments when it is. And those moments, like Cindy mentioned -- when she is with her grown daughters, watching her grandkids swim -- make all the rest of it worthwhile.
During the past year I have asked myself several times if this is really the life I want. Maybe I’d like to be someone else. Live a different kind of life. And yet, again this morning, I was reminded that this is the life I want. This is the man I want to be married to. These are the children that I want to parent. And for now, these are the jobs I want to have.
I have to admit that there may be people who are able to have those “It just doesn’t get any better than this” moments more often than I am. But as Cindy indicated, I am never, ever, ever bored. I am content in the deepest sense of the word ... a deep satisfaction knowing that I am doing what God wants me to do.
Wow, I need to get out more. This is good for me.
1 comment:
"And those moments, like Cindy mentioned -- when she is with her grown daughters, watching her grandkids swim -- make all the rest of it worthwhile."
Of all Cindy's touching posts, I think the one that's stayed with me the most lately was the one where she compared Salinda with one of her own daughters, who had some rough teenage and early adult years but finally settled into a responsible lifestyle as an adult.
Even when you seem at your wit's end describing your daughter's poor decisions and manipulations, I think of that image of Cindy proudly enjoying her adult kids and hope that you feel the hope and reassurance that image offers.
You didn't choose the easy kids, but what you're doing does matter. Keep up the good work.
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