OOF. This: "Am I loving them only for the ways they reflect my own self back to me?" I am wondering this too as my days vascillate between an infant, a 3 year old, and a 4 year old. And I also long to offer that free and untethered type of love rather than merely conditional approval. Thank you for this piece!
I'm going to request my library gets Splinters!! I have been wanting to read it for awhile. Also, love pic of the snacks in the muffin tin! I usually do a "snack tray" and put them on a cookie sheet (the kids love it, I guess they love a nice display too). Haha. But I like the idea of the muffin tin!
Ahh yes!! Let me know what you think if/when you read it! And I'm gonna have to try the "snack tray" idea--truly, I'll do anything simple and somewhat novel to keep summer lunches easy, at this point!
There is such an ache in watching your kiddos get older. A beautiful, holy ache. I feel it deep within me. So grateful for their lives, their beings. So grateful to be along the journey as they discover what is inside them. But also this grief in the movement. A recognition that what was will never be again. That ache always stops me in my tracks. Reminds me to stop and look. To take it in. It will never be this again ♥️
"How easy it is to love a baby purely and selflessly, when they are still a writhing ball of need, wholly dependent on you, wrapped with their ear pressed to your own wild heart—when there is not yet a thick, chisel-tip line of separation between their self and your own." Oh wow I've never thought of it like this. Right now I have two girls, aged 6 and 4, and a baby boy, so I feel both things here! You have such a way of putting some of my thoughts and feelings into beautiful words!
OOF. This: "Am I loving them only for the ways they reflect my own self back to me?" I am wondering this too as my days vascillate between an infant, a 3 year old, and a 4 year old. And I also long to offer that free and untethered type of love rather than merely conditional approval. Thank you for this piece!
Totally, Megan! It’s one of those push-pull, paradoxical parenting things. Thanks for reading!
I'm going to request my library gets Splinters!! I have been wanting to read it for awhile. Also, love pic of the snacks in the muffin tin! I usually do a "snack tray" and put them on a cookie sheet (the kids love it, I guess they love a nice display too). Haha. But I like the idea of the muffin tin!
Ahh yes!! Let me know what you think if/when you read it! And I'm gonna have to try the "snack tray" idea--truly, I'll do anything simple and somewhat novel to keep summer lunches easy, at this point!
Thanks so much for sharing my Humanifesto, Krista! I'm so glad it resonated with you.
Thank you for writing it, Faith! It’s so lovely.
There is such an ache in watching your kiddos get older. A beautiful, holy ache. I feel it deep within me. So grateful for their lives, their beings. So grateful to be along the journey as they discover what is inside them. But also this grief in the movement. A recognition that what was will never be again. That ache always stops me in my tracks. Reminds me to stop and look. To take it in. It will never be this again ♥️
Thanks for writing this beautiful piece.
Yes yes yes, Kelly. A beautiful, holy ache. 🩷 I feel it too. Thank you for sharing.
"How easy it is to love a baby purely and selflessly, when they are still a writhing ball of need, wholly dependent on you, wrapped with their ear pressed to your own wild heart—when there is not yet a thick, chisel-tip line of separation between their self and your own." Oh wow I've never thought of it like this. Right now I have two girls, aged 6 and 4, and a baby boy, so I feel both things here! You have such a way of putting some of my thoughts and feelings into beautiful words!
Ohhh this really touches my heart. Thank you for sharing this with me, Kym!
Thank you for sharing my piece alongside all this goodness, Krista 😊. What an honor.
I am so glad you enjoyed splinters!!! The writing was 🔥🔥🔥 Also, very intrigued by that mascara 🤔
Lol intrigued is a good word for it. Maybe other people's eyelashes can actually keep normal mascara on, but mine apparently cannot.