Yesterday I found myself in the same conversation twice, with two different people.
The triplet-ness of our life has become less obvious over time. My daughters do not dress alike and do not act alike and only slightly look alike, so the triplet discussions just don't come up like they used to. People look at us and see a bunch of kids and a mom and then move on.
But yesterday my bitties were all dressed alike for Halloween (their choice, they do not have to dress alike unless they want to). And we were spattered with the question all day and all night long "are you/are they triplets?" Which is fine, never an issue with me, because let's face it, it is still kind of a bizarre thing to have three kids born on the same day.
Once that question came up in conjunction with my being a single mom. And then the comment "how in the world do you do it?" And this precious gal, was not asking about the feeding, clothing, nurturing part. She was asking about the staying sane, not being overwhelmed, not being a crazed freak always in a hurry part. And I loved my answer, because for once, I had one that came straight from my heart out of my mouth.
I told her that this is their life, my children's life. I want them to have great memories, fun times, stability, joy and love. I want them to wake up in the morning and look forward to what each day might bring.
I also told her that this is my life, too. I want to have great memories, fun times, stability, joy and love. I want to wake up each morning and look forward to what each day brings.
We make fun where we can, we are purposely not too busy, we spend as much time as we can together. We celebrate little things like ice-cream for breakfast and big things like turning five (and being a mama for 5 years...woohoo!).
Grumbling, complaining, losing my patience, and panicking all happens. But I have gotten pretty good at apologizing for my momentary manias and moving on. My gals are getting to know me and my blips into the freak-zone and have gotten pretty good at forgiving me and moving on. All four of us have the rock of Jesus to stabilize and bring truth into the hard moments, and shove us out of any yuk, back into the joy of the everyday. We keep going, keep living and overall really have a good time.
Surprisingly, this same conversation came up last night with a different set of friends. And I listened to myself spew out the same words again. And then I realized these words weren't for my friends at all. They were for me, a window into the soul of how my family lives. And it was good to hear those words for me, from me. Amen.
