Ahhh….motherhood…the art of recalculating your plans every thirty seconds and sometimes just pitching them out the window <3
One day last week, when we were helping with the after school shenanigans, there was a point when Papi was still getting Graham where he needed to be and Rachel and I were unloading the other three from the van.
It was nice out and she had small containers of plants and flowers that were needing to find their place in the ground around the landscaping. Joel wanted her to shoot baskets, Emmett wanted her to play pitch and catch and there were those flowers to plant.
So in between trying to play two different sports, she would dig a hole and have Caroline remove the starter plant from its incubator. Before jamming it, I mean placing it, down in the ground she would dutifully loosen the roots as her mommy had instructed her.
This process was not for the faint of plant-lovers’ hearts.
Somewhat like the Looney Toon’s character, Elmira, hugging and squeezing the life out of some woodland critter, Caroline would vigorously grab the bottom of dirt and pull it apart with an impressive amount of energy.
Then she would take a garden trowel and scoop the ground back around and over the flora.
As I looked at one little fellow kind of listlessly adjusting to his new home, I mentioned to Rachel that I was praying for his recovery and survival.
She laughed and said, if it isn’t hardy it isn’t going to make it anyway.
True.
It will have basketballs landing near or on top, the heat of summer that is the Midwest beating down, and days when watering cans are abandoned for the busy schedules of pool and ball games.
I am pretty sure when Rachel made her selections at the garden center it was with every intention that they would be carefully planted and tended.
But life.
Life has a way of taking all our best laid plans and laughing in our faces as it highjacks them in directions we never dreamed of.
Wise is the mother who realizes that we just do the best we can as we keep the plates spinning, throw our dreams on the back burner for another minute or year or decade and be present to slam dunk on the seven year old to make him laugh, throw a grounder for the almost ten year old and holler that the white creepy thing is probably a slug and if you don’t like them, have Lola scoop the dirt back from now on.
Happy Mother’s Day…think of a way to encourage a mom…young, old or in between and follow through as they pour into raising decent humans.
In honor of Mother’s Day, here are the three that made me one. Too long ago it was taken, but still a favorite <3
