Coming Home

Gifts from my children today:
None of them called me at the conference to ask for anything.
The kitchen was clean when I got home.
They ate three actual meals during my absence and only one of those meals was cooked in the microwave.
My younger two kids where lightly sunburned, evidence that they spent large portions of the day outdoors playing instead of glued to computer screens.
The fridge had more groceries in it when I got back than when I left.
There were flowers in a vase on the counter and a ring of notes, one from each child. (Patch’s note: “Mom, you’ve been nice to me ever since I was born. I just want to say thank you.”)
I came home and they were all watching a show together.
They went to bed without arguing or delaying.

I remember all of the times when I experience the opposite of everything above, to the point where I wondered why I bothered to go anywhere. Today they demonstrated that they’ve actually learned all the lessons in self-sufficiency, hard work, empathy, kindness for others, and home management that I’ve been trying to teach for so many years. It is hard to believe in evenings like this one when at the beginning end of raising kids, but here I am and life is good.

I’ll have thoughts about the Storymakers Conference tomorrow. Tonight I am quite tired.