I don’t want to brag, but I have totally nailed this part of Proverbs 31. Seriously, I have 3 teenagers under my roof right now, two of whom are adults. I cannot even tell you what a privilege it is to have the collective wisdom of their 53 years to guide me through the day. My children never fail to remind me how blessed I am. For instance, last night I parked the car badly, and I just handed the keys to my 19 year old so he could park the car better. #blessed
When I am relaxing in the living room while my child washes dishes loudly (read: grumbling), his once a week contribution to family life (read: conscription), I am reminded how blessed I am to have servants who do everything for me. #blessed
When my child asks me to send her to a training school instead of college, and I question the marketability of the career and wether this program is the best path for her intended goal, I am reminded of how much money she is saving us. #blessed
Okay, so maybe my kids aren’t rising up and calling me blessed at this point in life, but you know what? Some day I think they will. Some day, they will find themselves in need of help, and that dumb old Mom who couldn’t figure out how to use her cell phone will be just one phone call away (assuming I remember how to answer it.) And some day they will be running households of their own, and they will repeat the same cycle we all did. We all gradually realized that our parents did so much more for us than we ever imagined. And maybe our kids will call us while their two year old is throwing a tantrum and say, “Mom, I’m sorry I was such a pain as a kid. This parenting gig is hard.” And our hearts will melt because we remember the day we said that same thing to our moms. One one day they will care for us in our old age, and we will know what they think now. We are blessed to have them.
And in the meantime, this having teenagers isn’t so bad. The other day, my newly declared vegetarian told me how amazing I was for making her a bean burger from scratch, even though she didn’t think it was all that great. My college boy and I exchange hilarious memes via text message that help me not miss him while he’s gone. My high schooler isn’t ashamed to hug me in the hallway at school, even in front of his friends. I don’t even care if it’s just to show off the fact that he towers 8 inches above me. Some days parenting can be tense and frustrating, Yet other times you sit together at the dinner table and have great talks about life, or you laugh hysterically at a school play and then go out for celebratory ice cream with your not so tiny actor.
My nest is emptying out, and that is beautiful and terrible all at once. The days are long, but the years are short. So sure, my kids aren’t rising up to call me #blessed, but I know I am. I am blessed because of them.
