By Angela Lenhart Parlin (this was written so well by my sister that I just had to share it with you all. I'm sure that you'll find it not only beautiful, but soo true.)
As hard as it is to remember, my life was once ordered and controlled. On my coffee table sat a tall mosaic glass hurricane, surrounded by small river rocks on a beautiful platter, along with a stack of scenic travel books from faraway lands we loved to travel to. The mantle was only one of many safe places for my pretty decorations to peacefully reside, and other than working hours, my time belonged to me. I worked out daily, chatted on the phone for easily an hour each day, kept my home clean enough for the President to visit, and ate leisurely dinners with my husband.
Then motherhood happened, three times in four years. As I sit here writing, my coffee table is covered with Mr. Potato Head parts, pacifiers, and extra clothes for when the baby spits up. We have traded in the exotic travel books for parenting magazines. The mantle is now the only safe place for anything breakable, and “my” time seems like nothing more than a faraway dream.
Becoming a mother has rocked my world, to put it lightly. For a time, my babies turned my life upside-down into nothing more than disappointing chaos. But lately, I’ve been noticing a whole lot more beauty in my chaos. The old saying goes, “Gold is where you find it,” and I’m pretty sure that in these three amazing little people, I can see a whole lot more than gold.
For the first few years of motherhood, I was all about getting my ducks in a row. My first child made that completely attainable, partly because he was easy and partly because there was only one of him! Then he grew into a spunky, energetic three-year-old boy, and we’re still trying to recover. We added a baby to the mix when he was just 16 months old, and then waited two and a half years to meet our third child, our baby girl. After all this, I can confidently declare that my three little ducks are most definitely never all in a row—instead one is hopping here and another is running there and another is bouncing here.
For the first few years of motherhood, I was all about getting my ducks in a row. My first child made that completely attainable, partly because he was easy and partly because there was only one of him! Then he grew into a spunky, energetic three-year-old boy, and we’re still trying to recover. We added a baby to the mix when he was just 16 months old, and then waited two and a half years to meet our third child, our baby girl. After all this, I can confidently declare that my three little ducks are most definitely never all in a row—instead one is hopping here and another is running there and another is bouncing here.
I have fought it hard, the chaos. But I’m raising my white flag in defeat. I no longer have it in me to rage against the chaos machine of our life. I surrender. I’ll need a huge dose of laughter in order to get through what the next years will bring our way—many huge doses, I guess. But from this day forward, I am dedicated to finding the poetry of our moments, the diamonds that are in the rough, and the beauty in our chaos. And this is where my blog begins, in hopes that you too might find more beauty in yours.
