Beginnings

There was an old woman,
Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many children,
She didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth,
Without any bread;
She whipped them all soundly,
And sent them to bed.

As a child, I thought that the mother of those children was the worst mother ever! I now sympathize with her! I love my "many children" dearly, but I must admit there are so many days when I don't "know what to do!" There have even been days when we have just had Campbell's chicken noodle soup for dinner and nothing else. There may have even been a day or two that I actually have "whipped" a child or two and sent them to bed...

There. Now you know the naked truth.

Today is a day of new beginnings. My oldest left for college yesterday. Dear daughter #2 has begun her junior year of high school at the community college. We are the midst of other "new" things for our family: living in our own home, living in this home for 5 years...longer than we've lived anywhere in our 20 years of marriage, being baby-less/pregnant-less/nursing-less the first time in 19 years..our "baby" turning 3 next month.

And so, today I start a new blog. I find that even as the transition part of labor is the scariest, the time when I usually exclaim "I cannot do this! I am not ready!" These new transitions, surprisingly (to me anyway), have me exclaiming similar sentiments. My prayer is that these times will produce similar joys as well.