Signs of Life

It was Sunday Brunch, I got back from Mass and was starving from skipping breakfast. I dreamt up a glorious garden vegetable bacon Swiss omelet. Yes, I'm often lead by the baser appetites of all things food.

I came home and found three hungry baby birds peeping for their lunch.

I dove into the kitchen making everyone eggs and bacon while making Andrew and I omelets.  I ran and rushed and was octo-mom serving juice, handing out napkins and plates and forks and buttering toast....then juice spilled, Avila screamed, and the kids need salt and pepper, and my omelet is cold.

Gritting my teeth...I just wanted a hot breakfast, the thought of just one uninterrupted meal in peace brushed over me.

I laugh now, I can't believe those reactions went through my head. Did I forget that I am a mother of three?

Imaginations on Display
How I wish I heard what was going on here.

It was a piece of selfishness that hasn't died yet. I guess for each mother, there are those pieces that cause us to loose sight of the beauty and grace of the NOW. For some it's sickness, or a no nap day, or a stubborn child.

I can get so caught up in trying to solve the problem or avoid the issue that days or weeks could go by and I couldn't see past the end of my nose.

I could wake up and they are grown and out of the house and would I really care about a quiet meal? I'm sure it will be all too quiet then.

A friend mentioned to me over the weekend when we were talking about our weddings and said, "Someone gave me the best advice for my wedding day, 'Don't get so caught up in the details of your wedding that you don't remember what your husband's face looks like when you walk down the isle."

I think that's a good philosophy for life. I don't want to fret about things that do not matter, for I do not want to forget these faces and these wonderful times. 

I'm sure graces of getting to confession the day before and Mass that morning helped me to "see".

I needed to see things in a more supernatural perspective, to stop and take a bird's eye view.  I looked across the table into their little faces, and realized I was so lucky to be sitting there with them at breakfast. To have the presence of mind to ask them what they wanted to do that day and did they like big Sunday breakfasts, to BE with them, and enjoy them.

I thought about the story of Ann, loosing her 2 year old sister who got hit by a car and the grief their family experienced. We were praying for another Ann whose newlywed husband went into a coma and she is due with their first born in three weeks.

What if I were to loose one of them, I would embrace their screams and their smiles and nothing would matter. I don't know what God has in store for me, but I do have today.

Here we were as a whole family, healthy, and alive. They are 5 and 4 and 1, and perfectly little. Our family life is in its wonderful small beginnings. Days right now are simple and predictable.

I proceeded to thank God for my cold omelet, because that cold omelet meant I had healthy, screaming, clumsy children in my home....a home full of peace, but not quiet, and joy and LIFE.