counting your blessings

  Dr. Strangelove, anyone? One of my dad’s favorites. And one we watched as children (and didn’t get, of course). Parenting is sometimes loving a bomb. Not to be confused with the 90’s term “da bomb.” Parenting is a tough joy, right? It’s the eternal paradox of “I-love-my-life and I-hate-my-life.” A friend’s blog said it perfectly the other day: Mothering Spirit “Conversations with Myself at 2am & 8am.” How do we come to more fully embrace the low lows and not just yearn for the perfect days? I have two thoughts to share on this. Big disclaimer though: I find parenting joyfully a continual and challenging goal to strive towards in my own vocation as a mama, so I don’t write this from a position of self-perceived superiority, by any means! 1) Count your blessings. If you are privileged enough to get pregnant without the assistance of medical technology, start with saying “thank you” there. If you can conceive a child, and carry that child full-term without undue medical problems, say another huge “thank you.” If your child is born free from developmental differences and challenges, you are blessed in a different way than parents of special children. If you are able to adopt a child the age you are hoping for, you are blessed. If your child survives infancy and childhood without life threatening or challenging medical conditions, say thank you. Lots of blessings counted so far. And we try to remind ourselves that being a parent, and a…