Season's Change

This is a season.  Just a season. That word helps me get through knowing that sooner or later a change is going to come. Change is good.

It's pedal to the metal this week for me with the fundraising aspect for the Glory Run. I have gained a greater appreciation for what my husband, the salesman deals with all day long. Phone ringing non-stop. Shooting emails and texts. Crunching numbers. Double checking facts. It's a lot to throw into the mix when you already have all that going for the four kids you're trying to keep inconspicuously (and quite impossibly, I might add) in the background while doing all these things.

The shirts go to the printer on Friday which means, I can't get any more sponsors after that. It won't, by any means, be the end of my duties for the race, but it will take some pressure off. This too shall pass.

We're also in a season wherein the kids are at each others' throats all...the...time. There was a time when I couldn't stand being around my own brothers, who I now count among my very best friends. I'm praying this too shall pass.

It is a season during which at the precise time of day when I'm ready for everyone to wind down, they turn up the volume, silliness and every other thing that manages to drive me crazy. If I could put them to bed the minute they walk in the door from school, this problem would resolve itself. Mornings are not so bad. Right now they lack the maturity and self control that requires them to know that at the end of the day, it's time to turn it off. This too shall pass?

Sometimes, however, I’m so busy waiting for the change of seasons that I miss the beauty of the one I’m in.

Working on the Glory Run is hard. It is also exhilarating and somewhat empowering to have the ability to raise such a large amount of money for my kids and their school. I graduated from high school with the race coordinator and I love this time of year because I get to spend so much time with her. She is better than me and works harder than me. She inspires me.

In the midst of their strong disliking of each other, the kids genuinely do love each other. Sometimes I have to look harder than others to see it, but it's there. I know one day they will grow up, get some space between them and learn that they appreciate each other. Theirs' will be a very strong bond...someday...I just know it.

As for the end of the day downhill spiral, I believe, or at least I've been told, that someday I will miss all this. Someday my house will be quiet and empty and I'll have to go visit the grandkids to experience some of this wild and crazy life. The silliness is often where I can at least appreciate that they must love each other if they can make each other laugh uncontrollably. One day, when they can rein it in, they will be enjoyable and entertaining people. That day may be way down the road, but it will come.

Change is good. It really is. But if I didn't have my current situations, I wouldn't appreciate the change at all. Each season necessitates the next. And that, well, that's good too.