Simply Mom

I had a simple pleasure all ready to link up this week,

but something happened that changed my focus.

My daughter came home.

I realize that this might seem too ordinary even for a simple pleasures post,

 but in my world,  mothering

 is the simplest pleasure of all.

And I get fewer opportunities to do it these days.

The Practical One is a senior in college this year, and her visits are becoming less frequent along with my opportunities to be needed. This summer, she didn’t move home at all but stayed in Macon for an internship. She’s becoming more independent and building a life that, while it includes me, isn’t always needful of me. She tells me stories of schoolmates who still need their parents to fight their battles and hold their hands. She speaks of it sadly and tells me that she’s glad that we chose a different pattern.

I am told that I should be proud of that.

I am.

But there’s still a corner in my heart that wants to be needed sometimes.

This morning, I’ll get to make sure that everything in her closet has been given a good ironing. I'll get to fold up the sheets and bedding that I freshly washed and hung outside to give the "fresh air and sunshine" smell. I'll get to take her to the store to stock up on all the necessities for the next few months. I’ll get to ride with her to Macon to help clean the old house that she’s been renting for the summer, and tomorrow, I’ll get to help move her back on campus.

There’s not a single item on that list that she’s incapable of doing by herself. In fact, I had wondered whether she would need me at all this year. She didn’t. The thing is, she’s a decent enough kid to want me anyway.

Just come along for the ride, she said.

Dad can meet us in Macon later.

We’ll ride together.

We can talk.

We can shop.

And she can show me the historic Macon cemetery

where the Civil War soldiers are buried.
And look for the best place to catch the blue hour in the Macon skyline.

So I’m coming along  for the ride. The relationship has changed.  I have spent her lifetime capturing her moments. I have followed like the paparazzi snapping shots as she passed through phase after phase.  But this morning, I realized that she had entered a new phase, and like that rocking chair moment  that I yakked about months ago, it had come without warning.

I think I will like this new kind of mothering. I just kind of wish that someone had followed us around with a shiny red Kodak and captured the moment when my daughter became my friend.

Being a mom, in whatever capacity, is this week's simple pleasure.

*****

Sharing this with Dayle at A Collection of This and That. Please come join the party with me.