“Oh, they’re so cute!”
“What handsome little boys!”
“Are they twins?”
“How old are they?”
“Are they twins?”
Every time we visit our friend in her retirement facility, I feel like a celebrity for one hour. Well, technically, I have nothing to do with it. It’s all the boys. One by one, a dozen cute old ladies and even some of the men stop to ooh and ahh over our very own rugrats.
Most of them seem to remember their days of raising children through the rosiest of lenses. They unabashedly advise Ryan and I to “have lots more babies,” and their eyes shine when they reminisce about their years in our shoes.
Our friend Gladys, on the other hand, dryly teases me about how when she first met me (pregnant with #1), I wanted four kids. I actually am still open to that, but shhhh, don’t tell Gladys! She would never believe that after actually raising toddlers, I’d still want a couple more. She makes quips to Ryan like, “Yeah! But you’re not home with them all day!” She was a great mother, but she remembers what it was like.
It seems that she never got her pair of rose-colored glasses, like many of her peers did.
I wonder if I’ll get them. By the time I’m Gladys’ age—90 years old—will I have forgotten how sometimes I could feel myself losing brain cells while I listened to by boys call each other “poop”? (WHY?) Will I have forgotten the millions of times I stooped over to pick up a transformer or put on someone’s underwear or scape food out of the carpet?
Or will I be like Gladys and remember it acutely?
Considering how fiercely I love our little boys and baby girl on her way, I think I will get my glasses someday. I can’t imagine that I’ll truly forget how much work it all was—and I might venture a guess that some of those sweet old ladies haven’t entirely forgotten either. But as I’ve said before, I think the beauty of these years will stand out far more than the hard and the mundane.
With a little luck, maybe I’ll get my rose-colored lenses long before I turn ninety.
How do you think you’ll look back on your years of raising little ones?
It’s funny how older people tend to hold to one extreme or the other when it comes to their own child-rearing years. I pray that I get those glasses, too. To be able to remember the struggle and the mess, but to find beauty in it.
How have you been feeling with this pregnancy?
Thanks, Alana! It really is funny how it tends to go one way or the other among the elderly. I’m feeling pretty great right now (23 weeks), with quite a bit more energy than I had for the first few months. Yay! Thanks so much for asking!
Because of the fact that I’m pregnant again less than two years after Charlie was born when he was such a hard baby and the transition to two was really difficult and we vowed to not talk about having another child for at least four years, tells me Matt and I both will definitely get those glasses. 🙂 Also, we gaze at our children while they are sweetly sleeping thinking they are so precious when just hours before we couldn’t wait to put them to bed. And don’t get me started on newborns. I now have two children that go to sleep easily and sleep all night long consistently and I’m willing to go back and be up every two hours? Haha. I’m so glad we forget easily and somehow dwell on the good stuff. Otherwise, I’m not sure how many of us would raise several children. It’s amazing how hard it is and yet how rewarding and happy it is. Lovely picture. I bet they look forward to your visits so much.
Ha! Love this comment! It’s so true! Maybe the rosy glasses come on a LOT earlier than ninety, because I agree, it’s the rosy memories that allow us to have more children! At this very moment, I’m thinking of pledging myself to at least four years after this next one, but I think that’s just my late afternoon fatigue/whiney children talking. Maybe by the time I’m looking at them sweetly sleeping, I’ll feel a little softer about that timeframe. 🙂 Wish we could go it together!!
Me too!!
I earned my rose colored glasses! But, you see with different eyes when your own children become parents! There’s nothing like seeing the world through the eyes of your child….