The Wildest of Rides

Happiest of Mother’s Days!

Today – we are transitioning.  In our family, we have one who becomes a father, a father to a son; one who is embarking on celebrating her first year wedding anniversary and branching out into the unknown – a new town, a new job; one who is finishing strong in the final moments of her senior year of high school – banquets, prom, graduation (oh my!) – and preparing for college; and one stepping in to the role of only child, becoming an upper classman in high school and looking ahead to her own future path for college and on.

And me?  Well, I feel like a kid on the horse in front of the five and dime store.  The one you put a quarter in and it goes up and down, up and down, up and down.  It doesn’t stop going up and down, up and down and up and down, until the time runs out.  That’s me – in it for the ride.  Sometimes up.  Sometimes down.  Totally outside my realm of influence.  The only other option?  . . . get off.  Anyone who knows me though, knows that’s not really an option.  No, I’m in it for the long-haul.   Sometimes I’m scared and wail like a baby.  Sometimes, I just ‘smile and wave.’   And sometimes, in all honesty, I just look straight ahead, stoically waiting for the ride to end.  I wonder if I’ll cry when my time runs out because I wasn’t quite finished; or if I’ll jump right off, glad that the ride is over?

Digging deep in the recesses of my heart though, I truly believe that if given the option, I’d climb right back on and put my quarter in, and probably ride it just as I already have.  In some moments, holding on to the horn of the saddle, white-knuckled; at other times, maybe just holding on to the reigns – trying to get that ole horse to move just a bit faster – and perhaps even in my most courageous moments, lifting my hands over my head and waving them in the air, giving a little kick at the same time.  Weee Haaaa!!!

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart!  May your Mother’s Day be the wildest!