Exhilirating, Terrifying, Gratifying, Exhausting
Today I am grateful for safe travels over the last few days, plenty of ideas for blog posts, and for my stepchildren and son.
The title of my post today refers to the various emotions that come with being a parent and stepparent.
My stepson Arthur is 22 and newly married. He and his wife Alyssa just moved to Normal, Illinois where he will begin graduate school soon and she begins her job today. My stepdaughter Emily is 18 and will be leaving for DMACC in just a few weeks to begin her post-secondary education. Her two jobs here will come to an end, hopefully replaced with a part-time one at school. I have known Arthur and Emily for over 15 years. I am grateful to be in their lives now and grateful I got to be part of their growing up years.
Our son Sam is 11 and approaching 6th grade. He's excited to start football next week and plans to get his 4-H projects completed this week for judging at our county fair on Saturday. I love my son. I love my stepchildren. Being a parent and a stepparent has been very gratitfying. What an honor to see them grow up into their own unique selves. What an exhilirating thing to witness. But it is also equal parts terrifying and exhausting. This idea of letting them go, letting them take the next step they need to take, which really takes them further from us . . . the prayers that they will be safe, faith that they will make good choices . . . that's the scary part. And it wears a parent down by the end of the day, by the end of a childhood. I see this in my husband too. It has been an emotional year for him with his two eldest children. We are both proud. We are both waiting to see how the next steps unfold.
Sam is approaching adolescence, Arthur is an adult, and Emily is in between the two. The fears and concerns their dad and I have for each of them are different in some respects, but exactly the same in others. We don't want them to get hurt, physically or emotionally, we don't want them to make choices that they will regret, we don't want them to pick up habits that would keep them from realizing their full potential. All that just looks a little different in the life of a pre-teen versus a twenty-something. And we know that some of these things have already and will happen to each of them. It is inevitable. It is part of life's experience. We hope we are helping them keep it all in perspective.
What we wish for them is similar as well: to be healthy and well-adjusted, to laugh and know joy, to learn from struggles, to be comfortable with themselves.
I am grateful to be a mom and a stepmom. I am grateful I am learning right along with Arthur, Emily, and Sam.
The title of my post today refers to the various emotions that come with being a parent and stepparent.
My stepson Arthur is 22 and newly married. He and his wife Alyssa just moved to Normal, Illinois where he will begin graduate school soon and she begins her job today. My stepdaughter Emily is 18 and will be leaving for DMACC in just a few weeks to begin her post-secondary education. Her two jobs here will come to an end, hopefully replaced with a part-time one at school. I have known Arthur and Emily for over 15 years. I am grateful to be in their lives now and grateful I got to be part of their growing up years.
Our son Sam is 11 and approaching 6th grade. He's excited to start football next week and plans to get his 4-H projects completed this week for judging at our county fair on Saturday. I love my son. I love my stepchildren. Being a parent and a stepparent has been very gratitfying. What an honor to see them grow up into their own unique selves. What an exhilirating thing to witness. But it is also equal parts terrifying and exhausting. This idea of letting them go, letting them take the next step they need to take, which really takes them further from us . . . the prayers that they will be safe, faith that they will make good choices . . . that's the scary part. And it wears a parent down by the end of the day, by the end of a childhood. I see this in my husband too. It has been an emotional year for him with his two eldest children. We are both proud. We are both waiting to see how the next steps unfold.
Sam is approaching adolescence, Arthur is an adult, and Emily is in between the two. The fears and concerns their dad and I have for each of them are different in some respects, but exactly the same in others. We don't want them to get hurt, physically or emotionally, we don't want them to make choices that they will regret, we don't want them to pick up habits that would keep them from realizing their full potential. All that just looks a little different in the life of a pre-teen versus a twenty-something. And we know that some of these things have already and will happen to each of them. It is inevitable. It is part of life's experience. We hope we are helping them keep it all in perspective.
What we wish for them is similar as well: to be healthy and well-adjusted, to laugh and know joy, to learn from struggles, to be comfortable with themselves.
I am grateful to be a mom and a stepmom. I am grateful I am learning right along with Arthur, Emily, and Sam.
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