Recovering

I realize it's been a while since I posted anything, and every night I crawl into bed and think, "shoot!  I should really write something!"  But time has been sparing these days, and having the stomach flu pass through our house a couple of weeks ago didn't help matters.  Nor did it help that it happened during a birthday week for one of my boys.  Lucky for him however, he got the flu first and was better by his birthday.  Even luckier still that his grandmother had planned to take him for a birthday sleepover, so when he woke on the morning of his birthday he had a full day of fun planned, and was not greeted with the "I-feel-like-death-I-can't-do-anything!" state of his mother.  He joyfully declared to his grandmother on his way home that day (after shopping, and bowling, and lunch out) that "this is the best birthday ever! Except that Mom is sick..." He then went for another sleepover at his other grandparents, went to the movies, had a birthday supper two days later, and a birthday visit from his uncle and cousin the following weekend.  All the other kids are now talking about how they want two sleepovers, bowling, and movies for their birthdays.  As they say, all's well that ends well.

In the meantime, I am eternally grateful for our parents (both sets of whom got sick after being exposed to us).  As hard as it was not being able to dote on my boy the way I normally do on all their birthdays, it was such a comfort knowing that he was having the time of his life with people who love him as much as anyone else ever could.  It really struck me the whole saying that it takes a village to raise a family, and how once upon a time this was just the norm.  And yet I know that these days, it's not.  More and more (for whatever reason), families are spreading out, and grandparents are not able (or worse, not willing) to be the kind of presence that Jeff and I have had from day one with our parents.  We are truly blessed, and our children (and us) have been given a treasure in the families that we have.  Whenever anyone says, "I don't know how you do it," I always think of them, and know that without them, we couldn't.

May we never take for granted the many blessings of our lives that come because our parents still continue to be our parents long after we've grown into adulthood. I hope and pray that someday I will give my children this same beautiful gift.