Mom

The beginning of the week we had to say goodbye to Mom.:(  I had been dreading the day since I learned that she had successfully arranged for an extended leave from work to help me when the babies arrived.  The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I drove Mom to the airport was reminiscent of our farewell after she and Dad dropped us off at college freshman year.  In both situations, prior to her departure, she had set me up for success, whether it be decorating my dorm room and helping me find all of my classes; or running all household operations while I focused my energy on caring for the twins.  It was never going to be easy managing all four kids on my own, but it was time to tear off the badaid and dive into my new reality.  I miss her terribly and curse the thousands of miles between us, and will always cherish the time we shared in the trenches, facing the good, the bad and the ugly (3 year old behavior) over our first three and a half weeks with the twins.  Being able to laugh with her, roll our eyes at each other over little heads, share dessert, mull over car seat loading procedures, enjoy a cup of tea during the brief periods of quiet time, feed babies side-by-side, contemplate the judge's decisions on The Voice each week, the list goes on and on...  To be able to live life with Mom in a way I haven't done since I crashed their empty nest years ago was such a gift.  Things got even more special when Dad and Kris showed up on the tail end of Mom's trip.  Dad completed every item on our house fix-it list that hasn't made the cut for our precious weekend time since we moved in, and Kris worked her magical powers on all of my children, she'd barely unloaded the car before they were following her around like puppy dogs.  My favorite was collapsing on the couch at the end of the day and laughing together over adult beverages...I thank God for enabling them to be with me during this life transition.