Family Encourager

When I was single and childless, I once read this; "to choose to be a mother is to choose to have your heart walk outside your body forever". I did not understand what that meant. I did not even try to understand. Skip a few years ahead, my first child was born, and all I could think of was that quote. I remember turning to my mom right after the delivery and asking her how she ever let any of us walk out that door? To make the decision to become a parent is remarkable, enormous, mind boggling, a game changer, auspicious, and forever. For me, the decision was made for me when I was very young, I always knew I wanted to be a mother, never had a doubt in my mind. I was the kid who started babysitting when I was 11, the kid who volunteered to help out in the KG classes, and the aunt who always wanted to play with her nieces.  Lucky for me, my husband wanted babies even before I was ready! He wanted one, from the wedding night, I was the one that want...

In view of what has happened in the world the last two days, challenge may be a good topic to  touch on. I will not go into the huge subject of the craziness of our cosmos, I will touch on challenging an idea in partnerships. I was at a ladies event the other night, and the topic of husbands came up (doesn't it always eventually). The ladies at this event came from varied backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicity, and age groups, the one underlying thread was the anger at partners. When you are so frustrated you do not know where to go from there. You have been married for too long to count and you are still having the same discussion. Every few months this same topic comes up and no resolution is ever reached. You have a huge fall out over it or one of you eventually agrees to disagree (until the next time). My husband always accuses me of bringing up the past, and I agree, I do. There are certain matters that I ...

We promise on our wedding day "till death do us part"! What we do not grasp at that point, is its "till death do us part" or until the next argument, debate, discussion, fight, challenge, dispute, call it what you wish.  Marriage as a concept, is fairly difficult to comprehend. If beings from another planet where to land on earth, and you told them you met this guy 30 years ago and have been sharing your whole life with him ever since. How would they perceive it? Sounds like a science fiction story, a bit far fetched. In so many years of marriage, "till death do us part" has come to mean many different things on may occasions. When life is rosy and we are madly in love with each other again, it has meant exactly what it says. I could not imagine life without this guy.  When life is throwing curve balls our way in the appearance of a job loss or an illness, it has meant I need to be around for this challenging time, till we get over it, t...