Always More…

“There is always more”—this is one of those phrases I have used with my kids since they were tiny. Anytime someone got upset over the last cookie or a broken toy or things got a bit too competitive or deprivation-oriented, I would remind them that there is always more, this isn’t the end, it all just keeps coming. Even if someone did use the last of the milk, we can simply go to the store and get more.

Of course, this little reality morsel works on several different levels. Sometimes it is not the pleasant stuff that just keeps coming, but the challenging stuff as well. There is always going to be more trials, tribulations, difficulties, heart-break, worry and sadness too. I do not think there is a way to reach a place (other than death) where life can be lived fully without experiencing these things too. Regardless of how short life is, a great deal of “more” gets crammed into every day.

I’ve been a little maxed out lately and in all fairness, I think all four of us have been. Life has been changing fast—there have been big worries, big losses, big changes and I see that all four of us are being called to change along with these realities. I would be lying if I claimed there wasn’t any resistance and that we were all jumping right in with both feet and big smiles.

These past couple weeks, we tried to watch as much of both party conventions as we can. Stuart and Lilly have become almost the convention junky their mother is. Meanwhile, there were hurricanes and storms, and articles all over the New York Times about all the “More” in everyone else’s lives all over the world. It can be tough to focus on all those people who have it worse when one is just trying to keep from blowing away, but we’ve been trying. It can be even tougher to keep getting up every morning and not want to bury one’s head in the pillows and covers and sit this one out.

Still, we keep getting up. I have felt such incredible gratitude for having the three most amazing kids in the world. I look at them and can’t believe what strong, creative individuals they are and I am constantly incredulous that they still want to spend time with me and with each other. All those intense years of play and argument and the three of them are now such close friends, defending each other and able to just hang out together for hours. We’ve been through a great deal, the four of us, and I have NOT always been the grandest of mothers, but you would never know it to look at us now. They make my bloopers seem less major.

A moment of gratitude in the midst of the bustle and turmoil and transition. People have come and gone, as have jobs, interests, money, love, etc. and there is this little core that while it is changing—it is solid too.

There is always room, there is always something, there is always more…