Without Her It Doesn’t Happen

In the closet next to our guest bedroom there are two boxes stacked on top of each other. One box is filled with what appears to be a knitting project of some kind. I say “appears to be” because I’ve never actually checked to see if there might be anything else underneath the knitting. The other box contains a vast assortment of letters and cards, and a huge unsorted collection of old photographs.

Many times we have said that we are going to sort through that big box and put everything in order. Perhaps someday we will. But for the moment it is as jumbled as life itself. You can’t find anything by looking for it. You just start looking and then find something. 

In one of the stacks I found a picture that must be 25 or 26 years old. She is holding Nick as he rubs his eyes. He was probably two months old at the time. Josh stands to her right with his back to the camera. With one arm she reaches out to gather him in. To her left Mark looks up with a hint of a grin, as if to say, “I’m about to do something.»

They are all there–three boys, one mother. 

And she is smiling. 

If she was tired at that moment, she didn’t show it.
She looks happy and pleased as she corrals her crew.

Motherhood suits her well.

In the beginning there were two of us.
Then three.
Then four.
Then five.

Now there are eight of us.
In July there will be nine of us.

One thought rises above all the others on this Mother’s Day.

Without her it doesn’t happen.
She is the heart of our home.

We are scattered now and not often together.
But on this we all agree.

Without her it doesn’t happen.
And she is still smiling.

“Her children and her husband stand up and bless her. In addition, he sings her praises, by saying, ‘Many women have done noble work, but you have surpassed them all!’” Proverbs 31:28-29