Monday, November 25, 2013

Oh the Weather Outside Is...

Actually delightful today.

Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday though? Not looking so great. I know it seems I'm a little obsessed with the weather, but y'all! I'm a little obsessed with the weather. I have daughters who live miles from here, hundreds and hundreds of miles from here, and they need cars and planes and trains to operate as intended, and carefully selected windows within multiple timetables to remain open, and snow and ice and inches upon inches of rain to skirt right on around the East coast instead of smack dab up the middle of it all.

It's Thanksgiving and I need my girls chopping onions in the kitchen, tucked in tight in their own bedrooms at the other end of the hall, giggling together as they place homemade ornaments on a Christmas tree, and snuggled up beside me on the couch watching Home Alone and Elf.  Whaaaaa!

Okay. I'll stop now.

So there's some weather headed our way, and there's also some weather headed across the Southeast, and 'they' are saying these two weather events are set to collide just when my Daughter2 is supposed to be winging her way here. Bother.

I'm trying to decide which forecast to believe and then find other options that might work, options which would hopefully cost less than the National Debt.

I'm trying to control the uncontrollable.
Pretty sure it can't be done.

I know many people are separated from family at Thanksgiving, and should it all fall apart my sweet sister who lives near Daughter2 will swoop in and gather her up with a hug and a turkey dinner. It's not the end of the world, and I need to remember that.

Still, I have not seen Daughter2 since August 11th (not that I'm keeping track), and quite honestly that is just far too long to go between face to face visits. Daughter2 has been working so hard, and what she needs is some deep down home sleep in her upstairs bedroom, and her mama's TLC by way of favorite foods and conversation. She needs time on the couch beside her Daddy as they catch up on all the DVR'd shark programming we've stored, and she especially needs all of the above to occur with a sister-bestie in the same house she's in, at the very same time.

Remember when you thought juggling two kids on two different sports teams with two different games in two different fields was tough?  It was, but these grown up-move away from home-kinds of logistics are in another layer of the stratosphere altogether. We mothers whose children have done what we raised them to do, who have grown up and moved into lives of their own, we're good with that, mostly good anyway.

You see there is always and forever a little piece of your heart that beats with the beat of your child's heart. Sure and steady, unnoticed much of the time, until some little something causes you to pay attention to the beat. You feel it speed up...race... pump with a ferocity you haven't felt since you held a feverish two year old on your lap in the middle of the night.

Today I will keep calm and carry on.

I will be glad for these sorts of problems, the sort that can likely be fixed, and if not can at least be lived with. I will remember not everyone can say that about things they are facing today. I will clean bathrooms and regain perspective. I will grocery shop and sing the hymns of my childhood.  I will take deep breaths and exhale soft prayers.  I will slow the crazy beating of my heart and I will be grateful.

14 comments:

  1. I am right with you on this! My daughter and boyfriend are supposed to fly from Raleigh to DC, then DC to Maine on Wednesday. And, I'm supposed to drive to Charlotte, pick up my other daughter, and drive through the NC & W VA mountains to northern Ohio. Oh bother!!

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  2. I know that feeling about our girls/children completely. I have one of my 3 daughters living a couple hundred miles away, so I pray the roads will be safe for her and her family to be here. When one of them can't be here, I always feel there's a "hole" that no one or no thing can fill. The pounding heart when they're in distress. We have done our job, raised them to be able to make their own way in life, but we still hurt for them, we still cry, and at times we still need to be their mommy.
    I pray your family will be safe and all will be able to be there.

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  3. Lousy weather here to for tues and wed. Thursday sun comes back. I bet the airport are going to be nuts on Wed. We are driving to TN on Wed, unless the weather is way crazy. Also Kevin had to miss his 2 days of work(today/tomorrow) as he came back home with a fluish relaps after a day to and from Boston. Sheesh. Hope your girls make it home without too much hassle or delays....

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  4. Praying it all turns out perfectly and everyone is home with you!!!

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  5. Trying to control the uncontrollable....isn't that so much of what mothers do? I hope everything comes together in a way that makes it possible for your girls to have a home grown Thanksgiving with you.

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  6. I will say prayers that everything runs smoothly and all are safely where they should be. Ugh. That's PC for, i hope they make it home but if they don't then I hope they are safely where they end up. Ha.

    'MOSTLY' good is an understatement. :)

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  7. Your girls are so lucky to have you, trying to balance the tension between giving them adult autonomy and forever remaining their momma. :)

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  8. They'll get there! They will.

    And if not, I pray you have peace. :)

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  9. Praying for safe travels!! Can't wait to hear from you that they arrived and the fun has begun!!

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  10. I hope your family is able to be together this week as planned. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  11. I, too, will be praying for safe travels for your girls! Hang in there :)

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  12. What a lovely family... of course those girls need their momma as much as their momma needs them. I will pray for safe travels. You painted a beautiful picture of love.

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  13. Praying with you! Especially that you feel His presence and see His fingerprints all over every situation.
    Jeremiah 32:27
    "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

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  14. I hope they both make it home safely and that you all have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

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