Once Upon a Mom

When my three children were little, I loved to dress them in matching outfits and they were flipping adorable. From navy and red sailor suits for the boys and a navy and green sailor dress for Megs to Christmas sweatshirts to purple and orange striped shirts and purple shorts ... stinking, flipping adorable I tell you. I will admit that every now and again I may possibly have been a tiny bit obsessive about how well my children's clothing was coordinated. There was that one Easter I spent several hours dying shirts and socks for Matt and Brad so they would perfectly match Meghann's lavender dress ... yep, I made my sons wear lavender shirts with white shorts, lavender knee socks and black and white saddle oxford shoes. Gosh ... no wonder my children refuse to forgive me for the matching outfit years ... sorry, kiddos.

It generally starts to hit me on Friday afternoons around 3:00 ... that's when the weekend blues start to sweep over me, and by the time I leave the office and head to my car, I'm often blinking back tears as I anticipate another weekend spent at home alone with Julie and Ollie. Don't get me wrong, I love my faithful canine buddies with all my heart, but let's face it ... they aren't too great when it comes to carrying on a conversation. And before you send me a bunch of messages about my loneliness being a result of the empty-nest syndrome, that's not where it comes from. Oh, I miss my kids from time to time, every parent of grown children does. But I am thrilled that my children all have their own lives and are active, healthy, happy adults. My weekend loneliness comes from losing the social circle I was part of for more than 20 years when I told the truth about who I am. But every once in a while, a weekend comes along like this one ... a weekend that reminds me that the people who matter most in the world to me are always close in my heart.

Yesterday, I drove to my daughter and son-in-law's house, picked up Meghann and she, Oliver the wiener dog and I traveled to Joplin to visit our favorite running/walking shoes store. After we purchased new shoes (mine are completely awesome!), we had lunch in a super cool local burger and hot dog joint, stopped at a couple more stores to pick up some workout clothes and got lost trying to find the interstate to take us back to Meg's (totally my fault). I got home around 7 p.m. ... just in time to get a call from my granddaughter asking me to Skype. We talked for about an hour ... actually, she ran and jumped and squealed and chased the dogs, and Matt, Becca and I kind of just watched her. She was a wound-up little girl last night for sure, but when it came time to say goodbye, she ran to the computer and stuck her little face to the screen to kiss me as she said, "Bye, Ghee ... I love you!" Sweetest words ever ... sweetest words ever. I was tired when I climbed into bed around 10 p.m. last night, so I'm surprised I woke up when my phone rang at 1:30 a.m. Though I couldn't tell you what we talked about, I do remember that it was Brad calling as he drove home from a very long day of filming. In fact, I'm pretty sure I may have gone back to sleep while we were talking because when I woke up this morning, my phone was on my pillow. I love that my boy knows he can call me at any hour of the day, by the way ... I love that he calls me when he's so excited to tell me about his latest adventure that he can't wait until morning. 

This morning, Ollie and I went for a long walk, and as I stepped along in my awesome new shoes, I thought a lot about yesterday. It's always extra special when I'm blessed with a day that I get to interact with all three of my children ... that doesn't happen very often. And as I thought about each one of them ... as I thought about driving and shopping with Meghann, Skyping with Matt and drifting off to sleep as Brad chattered ... I acknowledged the goodness of yesterday and how very lucky I am to have children who love me. Children who love me still ... children who love me still.

Once upon a mom ... a mom named Terrie ... once upon a mom named Terrie who is abundantly blessed to have the greatest children in all the land.