the best is yet to be.

I was loading the dishwasher and cleaning out the sink this morning, early, while the children were busy getting ready for the day. Ethan and Jacob were talking, David, Caleb, and Seth were already gone on the bus, Brittnee was getting ready for work, and Sarah was just getting up and talking to her kitten. I was listening to music; an indie folk Christmas playlist on the Alexa, while scrubbing and wiping and puttering around, when a song came on and stopped me in my tracks.

Life is seasonal, just like the weather. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.

And when you raise a family the changing years are all impossible to ignore, especially during the holidays.

Maybe this is why emotions run so hot this time of year, at the oddest moments they hit.

I remember years ago reading a quote, “The best way to prepare for the next season of life is to ENJOY THE ONE YOU’RE IN”. I’ve taken this to heart because somehow I’ve always known that “the days are long but the years are short.”

This morning Sarah was pressing her face to the window when she noticed icicles hanging off the bushes…….”I’m going out to get an icicle! Want one?” she (very thoughtfully) asked. “Sure!” I agreed. There are so many chances in a day, to enjoy. Soon we were crunching into them and I was deep down content, feeling ten years old again, with my youngest, who is ten for reals……..

Young married couples, couples with babies, couples with babies AND children AND teenagers AND adult children, and then………couples who have paved the way and show us the rewards of years raising up the next generation, now…….. with an empty nest? No, not empty, FULL, rich and full with a bountiful harvest of layer upon layer of loving memories, I see it everywhere when I travel back to my childhood home, this harvest, these memories.

I see two people, who after all these years are so much together that they are one.

All is grace.