This season of life is a weird one. I am solo parenting for the first time, full time, while my husband serves our country overseas. Getting the kids back into school, figuring out our new "normal" has had quite the learning curve. There have been days when I have felt overwhelmed, or just exhausted and I have asked the kids to give mommy a quick 30 minute break to herself. Even if it is just so I can put laundry away in silence upstairs alone. They all pitch in and keep tabs on their little brother while I gather my thoughts and it has worked out well so far.
Then, a few days ago I came downstairs feeling pretty refreshed having re-organized my towel closet in under 20 minutes and my oldest son presented me with a coupon book he had made me after finishing his homework. It had a stack of handmade hand cut coupons with all different items on them; some were for hugs, for back rubs, for snow cones, or mom gets the remote nights. He said "I know it is really hard with Dad gone so I wanted to give you these coupons to help". I hugged him back and savored the sweetness of a kid who was doing something kind for me.
Later when I was cleaning the table up from homework time to prep for dinner, I saw that his "coupon" construction zone had left a large section of artwork on my table and next to the blue artwork was a SHARPIE marker. Deep breaths. This is one of those moments where a pause to breath is the difference between me responding as a mother in my flesh, and responding as the mother of grace God calls me to be.
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In that moments I could yell, or be upset at the new blue marks my table dons. I could risk removing the stained finish and scrub it with a magic eraser or some rubbing alcohol. Or, I can choose to make it a precious reminder of the day while their Daddy was deployed that D decided to do someone kind for his Mama. I chose option three. One day (God willing) when I have grandchildren sitting at this table it will be a beautiful tale of their father's selflessness, and concern for his mom. One day the blue will fade into smaller pieces of a gentle memory as the table wears with time. But, unlike time, my heart will remember this sweet moment forever.
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