I get it!

Dear Mom,  

I get it. The older I get, the older the kids get, more and more each day I get it. I understand you and what you felt at different times in your motherhood as I pass through similar stages in mine.

I was washing the dishes the other day, staring out the window thinking about things, and I could hear six of my children upstairs laughing and carrying on as they played a game together. At that moment, as in other moments like it, there was such a peace. For that frozen moment in time everything was ok.  

I understand, as we all got older and developed our individual interests and relationships, how happy it made you to have us kids together in one place reconnecting an enjoying each other's company.  

I understand the pain of missing the one or two chicks who couldn't make it back to the nest for one reason or another. I understand the loneliness that comes with our state in life at times, and how it can only be comforted by our close relationship with God.  

I get it Mom!  

If you were here we could sit over a cup of coffee and a crossword puzzle and discuss our parallel universes in depth. How I long for your pearls of wisdom at times!  

For now I will enter into this season of thanks so very thankful for the role model and mentor I have had in you.   

I will picture you, in your beautiful dress, stockings and heels, finally removing your apron and sitting down at our enormous dining room table full of your complete day's work, slipping off your shoes under the table and taking it all in as we come together once again for Thanksgiving.  

thanks Mom. I miss you.  

Love,  

Laura