Saturday Mornings

 My house is quiet this morning.  Mike is working and Nick left with friends to cheer for his other friends at the state XC meet.  I was up early and got a good walk and work out in.  I'm now sitting at my dinner table with my lap top open, my dogs snoozing about two feet from me and my coffee steaming.  If I just painted a really nice visual it's because it is.  My Saturday mornings have sure changed through the years.  Most Saturdays were filled with cartoons in the background, syrup on the breakfast bar and the sounds of fighting between the boys and I loved every second of it while I was living it.  There is no one season I loved more than the others, although I'd go back just one time to hear my boys yell "Mom's home" when I got home from work and see them run across the kitchen into my arms.  It was a good thing I didn't know when the last time they would do that but one day it just stopped.  Instead these days I relish hugging my almost 20 year old when he stops in for a quick visit.  I enjoy praying with Nick everyday before school, knowing that in a blink of an eye that time will also soon be over.  I am really enjoying this season of my life and I try everyday not to take it for granted.  

I have always been uncomfortable with advice to take time for youself, to make sure you're taken care of so you can better take care of the ones you love.  Don't get me wrong there is so much truth in knowing and understanding this but it use to annoy the heck out of me.  I thought it was a complete joke when I was in the trenches of working full time, parenting and being a wife.  In fact it really just pissed me off.  In my 30s and most of my 40s, there was little time to focus on myself.  Turns out that advice is really meant for middle aged women like myself.  Ha.  These days I love that advice and soak it up nearly everyday.   I'm healthy physically and mentally.  I get some form of exercise everyday now.  Mentally I do it for my overall health, not for weight loss which is whole new concept for me but I like it.  I'm surrounded by girlfriends who fill my cup over and over again.  I can finally sit back a bit and breathe and enjoy my boys, accepting that perhaps the hard work we put forth was all worth it. Mike and I laugh more these days maybe because our boys are more independent and somehow we never lost sight of what attracted us to each other way back when.  I enjoy these quiet Saturday mornings.  They renew my spirit and remind me of what more is to come.