Friday, September 2, 2011

Raising Hope......

With the Labor day holiday looming I guess Summer is finally coming to an end.  The kids are back in school and Fall sports are beginning.  I can hardly believe how much the kids have grown over this past year.  My son has finally passed me up in height ...... one night he went to bed and the next morning I am looking up at him.  How or when this happened I have no clue.  It seems sometimes that life just has a way of passing us by without us even noticing.  It seems like it was just yesterday I remember walking him to his first day of kindergarten.  I don't know who was more scared him or myself.  This time next year I will be taking him to his first day of high school and I'm sure I will be just as scared as I was his first day of kindergarten.  I realize that they have to grow up and one day each one of them will move away.  (I can only hope)  
I wonder if this whole process is harder for single parents then married couples?  These kids are my whole life and when they are grown and starting their own lives what will I be left with?  I want the world for them and as hard as I'm sure it will be for me I want them to see the world.  I read a quote the other day that said "I want my kids to have everything I could not give them....then I can go live with them!"  LOL  They are already fighting over who I am going to live with when I get really old (50)!  
I've been so blessed to of had these three wonderful human being call me their mother.  I sometimes wonder how I could of been so lucky.  People often compliment me on how well behaved they are and I wonder to myself "Who my kids?  Are you sure your talking about my kids?"  They have their moments and get on my last nerve but then I guess that is normal for any child/parent relationship.  They have been through so much  in their short lives here on earth and I only hope that I have made the right decisions to help them move past that.  I had a conversation just last night with my son.  We were laying in my bed watching a TV show about kids who were getting in trouble and making bad decisions in their lives.  Each of the children had a sad story about something that had happened to them.  Most were from a single parent household and they used the excuse that one of their parents were not there for them.  I looked at my son and said "Everyone has a story......a past......and excuse.  It is up to you to choose what you do with what this world has given you.  You can use it as an excuse to be nothing in life or you can use it to make a difference and be somebody. "  
I really truly believe this that no matter where you come from or what you have been through we are all give the free will of choice.  It is up to us to choose what we want our lives to look like. I pray that my kids will look back on their lives and be happy with the choices they made.  Of course they are gonna make mistakes and that is a part of life but overall I want them to be proud of where they came from and what they have done with their lives.  As for right now I will continue to raise them best way I know how and try to figure out a way to slow down the aging process so that they can stay my babies for just a little longer.