the final frontier

Got a letter in the mail yesterday.
 In part, it read," Thank you for sending AB Ilgenfritz, Noah to join the ranks of the world's greatest air, space and cyberspace force.We invite you...and celebrate as your Airman graduates...and bear witness to the miraculous transformation of ordinary American citizens to extraordinary Airmen..."

Well, knock me over with a feather.  I don't know if I am ready to witness my 6th born child being miraculously transformed.  I thought he was pretty miraculous when he was born.  So, what's a mother to do?

  Parenting, in our home started normally enough. We were young, in love and had a beautiful baby. He threw cheerios and smashed carrots on the floor. His every discovery delighted us and left us wondering what was next. What came next were 15 children. “Close family” was an understatement. 

  Our family is a tapestry. Each member is a different color and texture. Our interactions produce the picture. As we added children, the picture became more complicated. When the children were old enough to leave, some of the threads got tangled.

   Parenting doesn’t come with a manual. 

  Every child that leaves the house leaves a different hole in the fabric. This requires different threads to patch and changes the picture. I hate change. But no matter how I feel, life is full of change and so after fighting it for almost 50 years, I am embracing it and teaching my children to do the same. Surprisingly enough, our house still has 10 children home but it seems I have more free time and I can be creative in ways I couldn’t when all of life was about dishes and diapers. 

 I don’t resent the dishes and diapers, as they grew me in many ways, but there are new horizons now. I’d like to take piano lessons learn a new language, read books and travel, visiting all my children.

 My 24 year old daughter, said, “It’s not an empty nest, Mom, it’s a new adventure. She calls it the “final frontier.”

  Today I hold my youngest and feel his fat sticky hands pat my face and now I realize the time is going to fly past. By the time he is ready to leave, the entire picture will have been rewoven but with God’s grace, we will all be able to celebrate the changes and see how they have woven together to make a work of art.