We had such a great weekend.

I have determined that I am much happier when we are busy than when we aren’t.  I think it is because, in all honesty, I don’t have a lot to do when we are home.  I clean, I read, I watch my crazy K-Dramas, I do outside work (every now and then), I figure out what’s for dinner.  And all that doesn’t take many hours to do.

This weekend we were busy!

Friday there was a Strawberry Festival in a town I have not visited in years but spent endless hours in as a child.

Traveling on a road that I rarely travel on anymore brought back so many memories .

We headed to the town my Daddy grew up in and where my grandparents lived until their death, to attend a Strawberry Festival .

We first stopped at the cutest little antique store and talked extensively with the owner. Then we rode by “the house” .

It is my “memory house”. We all have one. For most people it’s the house they grew up in. But for me, since we live in the house I grew in, It’s my grandmother’s house. From age 2 to about 14 or 15 she was my favorite person in the world. She and Papa were always old times me. Much older than my other grandparents. My Daddy’s oldest brother was older than my Mom’s parents. My Daddy was the baby by quite a bit and my Mama’s favorite son.  We went to their house every weekend. They lived on a farm that was within walking distance of the town square. They had pigs and horses and chickens and cows. I learned to milk a cow there. I gathered eggs. I picked grapes and worked in the garden.  I tried to coax wild cats from under the house.  We climbed the huge oak trees in the front yard and built a treehouse. It was where I had snow cream for the first time. In the summer my brother and I fought over who sat on the homemade ice cream maker while Daddy cranked it. My younger brother and I set up a hospital to try to doctor the birds my older brother shot with his BB gun. We explored the pastures and lake, jumped on hay bails, picked wildflowers .

I would stay for a couple  of weeks every summer. It was the highlight of my year. My Mama and I had such fun. She made biscuits every single morning. She made the best fried chicken I ever had in my life. She made tea cakes that I’ve tried to duplicate so many times. She and I walked to town to shop and if I close my eyes can see her with her handbag on her arm. We always stopped and got a milkshake. She never once wore pants. She let me pick out her dresses every morning. She never once drove a car. She gave birth to 7 boys, 2 of which died .

As we drove by, so many memories rushed through my mind. So many amazing times. It is a beautiful place that has been totally redone. It has a huge wrap around porch and stained glass windows. The land is gone. The big oak trees are gone. But it is still a place that I adored and the wonders painted it yellow with a barn red door. The exact same color we picked out when Daddy had this house painted a couple of years ago .

As we walked around the town square, looking at crafts, eating ice cream, listening to elementary school kids sing, smelling all the food smells and seeing baskets and baskets of strawberries I told Keilee I would give anything if Mama was beside us and afterwards we could go back with her to her house, eat fried chicken and sleep in her big feather bed .

I am so thankful for memories .

Such a beautiful day with my girl. And my Mama and Papa. I so glad I could visit them today. If only in my mind .

Saturday morning we went to the first “Market on Bank”.  I simply adore our town.  They offer SO much and it is all free and we have always gone to everything possible.  Keilee also talked to the director of the Art Museum and she is going to help with the Summer Art Camp.  She was so excited.  We also got to meet Crazee Daisy.  Daisy is a bit of a celebrity in our town.

Saturday afternoon was all about Cinderella.  Keilee had a birthday party for a just turned 6 year old.  As I sat in the car waiting, I wondered how many hours I have spent waiting on her.  And I have not minded one second of them.

Sunday was Mother’s Day.

I have been many things in my life.  A daughter, a granddaughter, an aunt, a cousin, a niece, a wife, a child of God.  So many hats worn. A student, a teacher, an employee.

But I never spent my childhood, teenage or young adult years wanting to be a Mom.  I hear so many women say that was all they ever wanted to be.  But my Barbies were nevfer Moms, they were explorers or scientists (strangely enough Keilee’s have never been Moms either).  I was a magnificent aunt, the cool one, the one that taught you to burp loudly or jump off really high things or took you to roll yards or let you stay up all night. But I never wanted to be a Mom .

But then God, up in Heaven, shook his head and smiled and whispered “Just wait” and then He made me a Mom. And it is the best.thing.I.have.ever.done .

I sat at church and heard Mothers tell their “Mom stories”.  And I heard them talk about how they went through hard times.  How it is tough raising kids and Keilee leaned over to me and said, “I have never been hard to raise”.  And she is right.  Never.  Not once. Now we have had hard times, times when we scraped together money to go buy milk, times when I wasn’t sure I could pay the electric bill, times of stress over money.And I‘ve worried because I  have never taken her on expensive vacations or gone out to eat much or bought new furniture .

But she has never been hard.  We bump heads, of course we do.  I yell, but I’m a yeller.  But she has never been hard.  She (as most of you probably know) delights me, amazes me, loves me fiercely (as I do her) and blows me away every single day .

People say you shouldn’t be your child’s best friend but she is mine and she says I am hers.  We have gone through the last  years together.  It has always been her and I against the world. I told her today sometimes it really scared me how easy she has always been, how smoothly she has gone from baby to toddler to child to preteen to teen.  Like something hard was coming because IT SHOULDN’T BE THIS EASY.  And she said, (as she so often does) “Oh Mom you worry too much” .

Mother’s Day can be hard for me at times.  Almost 8 years ago to the day, I lost my Mom.  And she was the best Mom ever.  She was funny and supportive and a lioness to her cubs and she prepared me to be something I never thought I would be.  Keilee’s Mom .

But I am not focusing on the ‘sad’ today. I am focusing on the beauty .

And there is SO MUCH BEAUTY .

So we went to church and afterwards I ran home and packed a picnic and then picked up my girl up from kids church, we went to visit my Daddy and I hugged my Step Mom and we went on a picnic and then came home and sat on the patio and I read aloud to Keilee.  Then we ate hot dogs for dinner and watched Gilmore Girls.

And I thanked God, as I do every single day, for making me her Mom .

Have a wonderful week all!

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“There is no way to be a perfect Mother but a million ways to be a good one” ~Jill Churchill

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