It has almost been two decades of mother’s days.

Not sure how that happened so fast.

I remember wondering what it would be like being a mother. If I would be a mother. Be a mother to who?

I have to say that motherhood is truly one of those things that you can not even imagine.

I find in recent years I have played so many more keys on the motherhood piano of life.

Initially you hover around middle C , gradually stretching into the main two octaves. Maybe three.

As your kids grow, I find I spend more and more time in the upper and the lower octaves. You know the ones that are so so high or so so low that you can barely hear them.

I feel that I am playing a full keyboard.

And yet, I know, that in many ways, this is just the beginning. There are more keyboards to add (like an organ), more pedals to play, and then layers and layers of music to be added as my kids continue to grow and as I welcome more children and eventually grandchildren into our expanding family.

I was having a conversation with Zach and Josh yesterday about life. (One of the many they were excited to participate in, lol).

I used the analogy of coming to earth with suitcases – filled with what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are. Our goal on earth is to use the strengths, and see what we can do with the weaknesses – can we accept them or turn them into strengths – or learn which ones to do which with? So when we return home, what is our suitcase filled with? Hopefully a lot more strengths…

But we also get to return home with a carry on bag. A nice big one (plus one personal item:))

We get to bring our souvenirs home in those bags.

Those are the experiences we get to have. The memories that we create.

What souvenirs are we bringing home?

I offered to the boys that they may want to consider what souvenirs will be most meaningful to them. What do they have already? Where will they invest their present time in? Their future time? What souvenirs will they be excited to have to show when they arrive home?

As a Mom, I look in my carryon bags to assess what I have collected over the years. So many experiences, so many traditions, so many travels. So many little routines, things that seemed insignificant that I picked up along the way but I love to pull out and look over. My bag is already overflowing, I’m a heavy packer.

So many of my souvenirs include my family. My husband. My kids. I feel blessed to have such a full bag of souvenirs already. I feel blessed to be watching my kids fill their own bags with exciting adventures, experiences and treasures.

I look forward to collecting so many more souvenirs and my bags will be overflowing, you can be sure.

I hope the same for my all my children.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be their mother/smom/mother-in-law.

Happy Mother’s Day