My Cup Runneth Over

If you've never seen the movie Hope Floats, you should. It's not only a great movie that emphasizes overcoming obstacles to find the good that lingers right after the storm, it is also the source of two quotes that I absolutely love.

When Gena Rowlands character, Ramona Calvert, tucks her grand-daughter into bed, she says "I love you grandma". It's as if that is the first time she has ever heard those words. She replies, her heart about to burst, "My cup runneth over".

That is how I feel.

Being a parent is AMAZING. I look at Ethan - his tender golden hair curled around his ear (yes he needs a haircut!) - and I am in absolute AWE of the human being that he is. He's smart. He's witty. He's EXHAUSTING. He's imaginative. He's messy. He's EVERYTHING that I would want my child to be and more. He makes my heart whole.

And Aiden - my sweet little guy. He has challenged me in more ways than I would have imagined in my journey that is parenting. He is overcoming obstacles. He IS brave in every sense of the word. He is a little brother that looks up to his big brother more and more each day. And his smile. Seriously? Could there BE ANYTHING cuter?

The other quote from the movie goes something like this: Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. But it's what is in the middle that matters the most.

Giving birth for the first time was scary for sure. The responsibility you are given the second that child enters the world is unlike anything that anyone who is not a parent can ever know. I could be neurotic, but now that I have that responsibility, I often think about what would happen if something were to ever happen to me. What would my kids do? Would Ricky know where Ethan keeps his underwear or what size diapers to buy Aiden? (Yes on both accounts, but come on moms, you still wonder, right?) Yes my friends. Endings are usually sad. That's why I'm going to vow to make the most of the middle.

I want my middle to be FABULOUS. Doctors appointments, surgeries, staring, learning how to teach my children about differences and all. My middle will be good, dammit. Life, you won't stop me. (sticking tongue out now)...(Although speaking of my middle, a little plastic surgery wouldn't hurt...I'm just saying :))

All I need is for Ethan to sit on my foot and wrap his arms around my legs to be my "boot", or to see Aiden's goofy little smile when I come in to get him after his nap. My kids are my middle. I will do them right.

Love. That is something I thought I never knew until I got married.

And then I had kids.

My cup runneth over.