Morning Thoughts

Every morning I make it a ritual to check everyone's blog to see if they have written since the day before. Most of the time I am so disappointed to find that no one has updated.  But then I realize that neither have I!  It is so hard to keep up, isn't it?

I love having children in our house again .... especially if they are my grandkids!  I am so happy that Mike, Christina, Caitlin, Carter and William have had to have a "stop-off" place to stay a few weeks while they are waiting to get into their new home.  It is so nice to hear those little voices every morning as they wake and get ready for the day and the good morning hugs that I get when the grandkids are around.  I miss that part of our younger life.  (It gets awfully quiet after the kids all leave home and all that is left is "old" people.  We can get awfully repetitive and boring!)

Once when our own children were little, I had them all lined up on the bench at church and they were being especially irreverent.  I knew they were disrupting the meeting for everyone around us.  As I was trying to get them under control, an older lady sitting behind me leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Be patient and love them.  They grow up all too soon."  I smiled and thought to myself, "It's easy for you to say.  You can sit there, listen to what is being said and not have to deal with it."  I couldn't imagine that the day would come when I would feel the same as that dear sister was feeling.  But how true it is!  Although I wouldn't want to begin again to raise children in today's world, I miss having the "patter of little feet" in the house.  I am so grateful for times when we have grandkid's come so I can remember the wonders ... yes and trials ... of motherhood.  And I find myself thinking and sometimes saying, "Be patient and love them.  They grow up all too soon"!

First Post of 2011 - Resolutions, Thoughts and a Lot of Rambling!

Why does time pass so quickly?? I can't believe it has been nearly 2 months since I've made a post on this blog. So much is going on in life and we let the little things pass us by. I want to take notice of the small things this year ... be aware of them and enjoy them.

Resolutions:

I am learning that there is so much to be thankful for ... the top on my list is my family. Each one has such unique qualities, personalities and attributes. I am proud of each of them and look to them to teach me, buoy me up during difficult times, and to remind me of my "younger years"and much more. I can look in their eyes and remember what life was like when they were young and dependent on me. Now I find a new dependence that I have for each of them. They are my friends! I am so blessed!

Resolution #1: Tell my family often that I love and appreciate them. Don't take it for granted that they already know.

I have spent so much time in my life looking forward. Looking forward to when Mike and I had a family ..... to when the kids were old enough to do things on their own .... to when I could leave them alone for a while without worrying every minute I was gone (I know, that was wishful thinking! I always worried!) .... to when they were grown .... to when I had time to do the things I put off like genealogy work, studying scriptures, reading a good book, spend more time with parents, ..... to when Mike and I had more time to spend together (guess that time is behind me, when we worked together professionally cause it seems like we see so much less of one another now) .... to retirement (the only retirement I can foresee is getting "tired" and then getting "tired" again). Yep! I've spent much of my time looking forward and not truly enjoying the moment! Need to work on that.

Resolution #2: Take time to read 2 books a month, try to schedule regular "date nights" with my good husband, and work at knowing my ancestors by doing at least 1 project a month in family genealogy.

This year I want to become a better person but I am going to begin by making only two resolutions. I don't want to make it so difficult that I can't accomplish them. So there you have them .... in writing. I have always been told that if you write them down, you have more of a chance to actually do them. We will see how that works for me!! In 2010, I resolved to try to become more patient. I still have a long way to go with that one so I have to continue on that as well. I've always been a slow learner!!