motherhood // water your garden

i came across a quote a few days ago that was simple and true.

"remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care that they get." h. jackson brown jr.

just like flower gardens and gardens of all kinds, the most important relationships in our lives, our marriages and those with our children, reflect the care that is put in.  just as if you over water your seeds, what results is muddiness and sad smothering, your flowers unable to stand tall.  if you neglect your dear plants, they shrivel up and become hardened like stones, impenetrable and prickly.  it takes a delicate balance and patience and trial and error to see how much care is needed.  one does not simple just know.  these things require work.  they require balance.   they require love that whispers, "i will always be here for you, no matter what."

as a mother and wife i know what it means to have to work everyday to keep my garden flourishing.  there are days that i prune too harshly, leaving me feeling guilty and broken.  whereas there are other days that i seem to get the recipe just right.  those days end in laughs before bedtime and popsicles on the porch.  they reaffirm my ability to mother well and to be a good wife.  they are not everyday moments, but when they do indeed happen they scoot me into the light and remind me of how blessed i am.

all in all, what i most take away from this quote is that nurturing is the most important.  that tending, though not easy nor without its frustrations and woes, is the constant that we need present with our babies and our partners.  some food for thought.  

motherhood // taking flight

we gave into the chirping birds and joined them at the park the other day.  i bundled up my babes and for the very first time, sat them side by side in our double stroller.  theodore feel asleep promptly, and stella, well she kept an eye out for things to collect.  "still collectin' mom?" she would ask about every fifty yards.  a pinecone here and dried flower there, we added them to our pile.  together we circled the park, looped through the trees, said hello to the ducks, ran up and down several slides, and breathed in the hope of spring.  it did us good to get out in the fresh air.  so much good.  we spent the rest of the day talking about our little outing and the lovely gifts mother nature let us bring home.

as a mother, as a parent, i get this feeling sometimes.  maybe you do too?  it's a rare feeling that is very hard to describe, but flowers in my mind quite beautifully.  i suppose i can best correlate it to flying, for every now and then, i feel like i've got wide, wonderful, wings.

...like i've got these long feathers attached to my being; these graceful wings that take me off the ground, up to where the clouds seem to vanish and the stars start to shine.  i never seem to notice the journey i take to get up into the air, just that spark of a moment, that tiny sliver of elation, that washes over me once i realize i am floating high, high, higher than i've ever felt before.

this feeling is one of home.  happiness.  joy.  growth.  motherhood.    

it's like i am looking down and seeing that i am not where i once was, all but seconds ago.  these moments of motherhood don't give warning.  they sadly, but understandably, do not linger.  for they are strong and mighty and swell with full force, almost vanishing before they've begun.  they are moments that life rarely present us, but for which we will forever give thanks.

pushing my babies together, side by side, for the first time this winter in their stroller gave me that flight.  that beautiful journey.  and it was perfect.