Seasons of Parenting

I am an incredibly fortunate person. Here I am in the season of life where I figured I would be just puttering around the house doing my own little projects, taking some art classes, working in the garden, etc. and, instead of all of that, I am blessed with the opportunity to be a day to day, major influence in a little person's life. I have the incredible opportunity to help this little one grow into a thinking, feeling, acting blessing in other peoples' lives. I thought that my major influence on a child ended when my kids were old enough to start thinking on their own. Who knew I would be blessed with being able to share even more with someone else. I think one of the greatest things about this is the fact that I feel much more prepared and equipped to "parent" a child (even though I am NOT the child's parent) than I did in my younger years. I have more patience and I have the wonderful gift of hindsight, which is enabling me to skip over those negative qualities I inflicted on my own kids. Not only do I get the opportunity to help this child, she, in turn, is giving me the gift of youth, something I wouldn't normally have at this season in life. How can anyone be old and stodgy with a 2 year old running around. With a 2 year old you can crawl around on the floor and be silly and giggle. I get to color with crayons, finger paint, make handprints in plaster of paris, build things with legos, and crawl into a "house" made from a washing machine box. I get to chase her around on my hands and knees and make her laugh and scream with delight. In the meantime, she's making ME laugh and scream with delight. People tell me what a wonderful thing it is I'm/we're doing. I ask them, "What else would I do?" I am truly blessed.