Newsflash: I'm a Mom

Yesterday was one of those days.

It was a grey and gloomy day outside, so we were housebound. Not only by the weather, but also by my poor Clara and all the barfing she evidently had to get done. She caught a nasty bug that absolutely knocked her flat. I mean f.l.a.t.

So we spent the day sitting on the couch while PBS Kids ran non-stop.

Don't get me wrong - I hate it when one of my kids is sick. It pricks that bubble of fear in me that always seems to be floating just below the surface. Everything is fine. Everyone is fine. Until they're not. And then it becomes all too obvious...just how vulnerable and fragile this precious life really is.

But on the other hand, I had a strange joy yesterday. It wasn't fun to have Clara sick (the least fun for her, I'm sure!). But there was just something about being nestled on the couch with her...nursing her back to health...snuggling her...loving her...praying for her. It was sweet.

I think it's just dawning on me: I'm the Mommy.

I know, I know - after 7 years of this gig, you'd think the fact that I'm a mom would be a pretty firm concept for me! But it seems that with all the work to get here, I all too often forget to actually BE here, ya know?

Our entire married existence has been about getting where we are right now. First we planned and saved and scrimped until we could afford for me to be a stay at home mom. And then we jumped in to the cycle of getting pregnant, being pregnant, having a baby, should we get pregnant again?, repeat, etc. But now that we know with certainty that we are not in that cycle anymore, it feels so liberating to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor (there are all sorts of interesting plays on words in that one!).

Now we are Here. I am the Mommy. This is our Family.

Do you see that? That dot at the end of that last sentence? That's a period, folks. A bold, firm, never moving period that signals something very significant.

I think that our recent hubby-and-me vacation and then the snug-as-a-bug day yesterday finally drove these points home clearly for me.

My home? It's full. My heart? It's even more full. And my future? It's all about being Mommy, and it's very, very bright.