As a child, I remember reading The Little House on the Prairie series and being so drawn into them that I would stay up late to read. I would read and read and read, flipping the pages just eating up Laura's adventures. My mom would call up, "Finish the chapter and turn out the lights!" Read, flip, read, flip, I would become completely absorbed in the story. Then I would flip the page and there would be just one lone paragraph left in the chapter. I would be caught off guard. The chapter had gone by so very quickly.
I often see my life as a book. Chapters breaking up the stages of my life with titles such as; Finding Mr. Right, My Life as a Bridezilla, Throwing Up For Nine Months, on and on the chapters unfold. For the past five years I have been contently wrapped in a chapter entitled "Mommy and Me." My life has followed the pattern of a stay at home mom with two little girls. Morning play groups or Mommy and Me class, home for lunch, afternoon nap, play, run errands, get ready for dinner. That has been the rhythm of my days.
Last Monday afternoon, I went to the science museum with my sister and her children. As I was driving around the parking lot, waiting for a spot, I watched moms with young toddlers leaving the museum. They left in pairs and small groups, pushing their toddlers in strollers. A few were pregnant with baby number two. Watching those women, I was suddenly very aware that I'm not them anymore. I was rather surprised to realize it. When had that happened? How many days in the last few years have I done the 10 am at the museum play date? 75, 162, 724? But when had I done it recently? Hum… I can't remember. With Sarah getting ready to head to kindergarten and Emily in programs 3 days a week, that's just not our life anymore. Last week, I accepted a part time position at my church. It is the first time I have worked outside of the house in 5 years. I am excited about the position, but it too brings changes to our life.
Sitting in the museum parking lot, I flipped the page in my own life story, and saw a lone lingering paragraph. The Mommy and Me chapter is coming to a close. I can't be purely cliché or stoic, I am excited about our next chapter but I am sad to see this one end. It was a sweet chapter, that passed all too quickly.
