A kitchen floor pondering

I found myself on the kitchen floor Friday evening. I'm not even sure how I got there, but there I was... sitting... on the floor mat... by the sink. I don't remember what took me down there in the first place, but I was still there because I just didn't have the energy to get back up again. My Beloved was sitting at the computer not far away and the kids were playing. And there I was... sitting... on the floor... thinking.

It was time for dinner, but I had no plans... no idea... no energy. I thought back to my mom. Appropriate, I thought, being the beginning of Mother's Day weekend. Maybe she found herself sitting on the kitchen floor the same as I did years ago, but really I have no memory of anything of the sort. What I do remember is that we ate dinner every night... and there's no other way that would have happened unless she fixed it and fed it to us. Then I started thinking further... to the dishes. She always did them. The cleaning... she did it. The laundry... she did it.

I was challenged by these memories... challenged to buck up and do it, the way she did. It didn't give me energy, but it made me want to do a better job being a wife and homemaker and mother.

But these thoughts did something else... they grew in me a renewed appreciation for my mom. She worked hard taking care of us when we were growing up... and most of the time she had another job to do too... either in or outside the home. Funny how you can't truly appreciate who your mom is and what she did all those years until you're sitting on the kitchen floor without the energy, or even desire, to get back up and do what needs to be done... like she did.

Thanks for getting up off the floor every day mom!

(Important note: If you are my mom, don't post a comment similar to any of the following... I won't publish it. I don't want you to say I'm doing a good job, or that you weren't as great as I remember, or that I'm in a season! I'm not feeling badly about myself or despairing. I'm just appreciating all you did for all those years! Thanks!)

Labels: Reflections

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 12:08 PM