Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day


What a gift to be celebrating Mother's Day today . . . I'm in awe to look at Karis and to know what a gift she is to our lives. I've found it continually humbling to be mother to this dear child who brings such joy to many lives. As my mom says often, "Karis is such a gift", and indeed she is. Trevor and I have opportunities to laugh every day at her squeals and kicks, her babbles and movements. Karis has a deep joy and a quick smile for anyone who will look her way. I feel humbled and blessed to be parenting along-side Trevor, and he's made this Mother's Day celebration all the more special with lots of quality time together, tulips, a card and

I read something yesterday in a book I'm reading called Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination. It's a quote from The Brothers Karamazov:

"You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a [person] stores such memories to take into life, then they are saved for their whole life. And even if only one good memory remains with us in our hearts, that alone may serve one day for our salvation . . . "

This quote rings so true in my heart, I just LOVE memories. I love to reminisce, a productive pastime instilled to me by my parents who are so good to recall good times we've had. And wow did my parents gift me with countless amazing memories (and still do, thank you mom and dad). As I think about motherhood, it is such a desire of my heart to give Karis and any children a treasure trove of sweet memories that will last them a lifetime.

A memory that I want to always recall from this Mother's Day (I don't suppose Karis will remember it, so maybe she can read about it one day . . .). I ran errands alone yesterday and enjoyed listening to the radio station "the Current". This song came on that at first I thought was really silly and not my "type" of music, but for some reason I didn't change the dial. By the end of the song, I was obsessed. I mean, just loved it (this happens to me often, I instantly like something then can't get enough of it . . . songs, books, movies, food, clothes, routines, anything). So this morning I found it online while feeding Karis her yummy mixture of oatmeal, avocado and yogurt (yummmm, right?). Having ingested a bit of caffeine, I went a little crazy dancing in between spoon feeding her bites - to me it's already a precious memory, sharing joy together while Trevor (not yet caffeinated) watched and smiled. Trevor had heard the song on the radio before, which made me feel so wonderfully understood in my obsession. You want to hear the song? It's called "That's not my name" by the Ting Tings. You can google it and try to listen to it on "www.ilike.com"Give it a couple tries, I think you'll like it. So yeah, this first Mother's Day is marked by laughing and dancing in the kitchen before church. Life is good.

Another memory that came to mind was Mother's Day of my freshman year. My family went to the local Country Club for a beautiful brunch, and who would be there but . . . Trevor Pope. I ran into him in the buffet line and he said, "Hey Pandolfo". I introduced him to my family, and that was that. We came to find a couple years later that he called me Pandolfo (my maiden name) because he didn't know my first name. HA.

Insert deep, contented sigh.

And also, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my amazing mom - I want to be more like you, mom. Your selflessness and humility and humor and compassion and generosity and beauty are beyond words.

And HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my marvelous mother-in-law. It's such a gift to be part of your family, thank you for making me your daughter! AND, thank you especially for raising such an amazing son who is such a gift to me in marriage.

And as always, so many people come to mind this day to whom maybe Mother's Day is painful. Those who have lost mothers, who have unfortunate relationships with their mothers, who desire to be a mother but for one reason or another aren't able to be. There are so many dear women with mother's hearts who are mother's in their own ways who I think should be celebrated this day as well.

One more memory to add to this day . . . we are ending it with something we've never really done before (maybe because we shouldn't be doing it?): watching a Disney movie with Karis. She's propped up on the couch between us, happily chewing on her teething ring and laughing away (well, more like fake coughing once in a while). We're pretty much loving life.





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