For the past three and a half years since Riley’s first sign of illness I’ve been so many things. I’ve been an advocate, a medical researcher, a therapist, a teacher, a student, a fierce tiger fighting for answers, an emotional wreck wondering what was wrong and not feeling strong enough to handle it…
But those moments…those fleeting moments…of just being…MOM. They’ve been there, but so few and far between everything else that has been happening. Today something switched. I don’t know if it was my decision (more on that forthcoming in later posts)…or just an emotional release for me…or just one of those days…but tonight. For about 3 hours…that’s all I was.Â
I was washing dishes and for the first time in years the baby gates are down (have been for 3 days!!) – and the girls are excited to have access to the kitchen. I turned around from washing dishes to see they’ve done this:
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They dragged in books and plopped themselves down at the table. Carrying on a little conversation with each other they read their books and told each other about them. They seemed so grown up…and I just grabbed my camera and started snapping. It was such a great, peaceful moment. I only wish Daddy had been home to see it (he’s got work stuff tonight and tomorrow 🙁 ).Â
For a few hours I was just a mom, and a little bit of a teacher because after the dishes were done the girls and I sat down to go over flash cards to start rebuilding Riley’s knowledge again – and work on Angel’s. Then I went over Brandon’s homework with him and asked him to do some side work for me…and I manged to finish the dishes, half the laundry and getting our new storage pieces put up and partially filled.
I think I’ll like just being a Mom and what goes with standard teaching. Maybe I need the break from ‘school’ and therapy as much as I think the girls do.
I am so happy to hear, Sarah. I know there have been so many ups and downs these past few years. I hope you all get more breaks like this more often.
Momisodes´s last blog post..The Choice Was Clear
Breaks like this are golden. I wish you many, many more.
Daisy´s last blog post..random thoughts on a sick day
This is great! You the Woman!
Now there’s an insight – maybe it is as much for you as them. I LIKE that. I think I experienced that once, too, between jobs by choice, I was a bit worried about my ‘career’. During that time I realized how satisfying it was to concentrate on our children.