Marc and I have some great friends who live out of the country. They are like brothers to us. One of them, Thomas, lives in Germany and has a very active lifestyle. He texts us every so often to check up on us or let us know what he is up to.
A few weeks ago he sent me a picture of where he was skiing with some buddies.
Do you recognize that mountain peak? It's the Matterhorn. Yup. The Matterhorn, people, he was skiing below the Matterhorn! Amazing!
I wanted to show him how cool I was too and show him the mountain I live below and have a view of from my front window everyday so I snapped a quick shot of this from my camera on the dreary day that it was.
A couple of days ago something that was shared on facebook caught my attention. It had been posted several times by friends and it had been mentioned several times that it would "bring tears to your eyes" and how it is "so true" and really "makes you think." So my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to watch this little clip that everyone was talking about.
It was very sweet and inspiring. It was a mother's montage or story about raising her sons and the struggles, trials and sweet blessings that had occurred throughout their lives and her own as she watched them grow. She talked about how as they grew up she started to miss them how they were when they were little and wished she had hung on to those moments more dearly. Then she talked about how it was now that they were moved out of the house and out on there own and how her house was now so quiet and it was only she and her husband sitting at the dinner table each evening. She reminisced about the many soccer games, baseball championships, proms, friends and school events that had passed behind.
It was beautiful to hear a mother speak of her children this way. To see that she had realized how blessed the days of trial and struggle were now that it was all gone.
After the little YouTube clip was over, I sat there staring at the "play" symbol on the screen of my phone for quite a while as I realized that what she had just described, what so many of my friends on Facebook related to, was not my reality.
At all.
So different, in fact, it was a little sobering because that was what I had planned my life to be like.
I thought that I would sit alone with my husband at the dinner table in the evenings after all our children had grown up and moved on into their own lives.
I will watch my children grow too, only they will be young in their minds forever.
I hope there will be proms and school activities to remember and look back on.
Marc and I will spend the rest of our lives with our children. They'll be with us at the dinner table each night. We'll take them on most vacations and outings. Whatever we plan will have to include them in some way, whether or not they come with us, we will need to either arrange for care or arrange for their comfort while traveling with us.
We won't have grandkids to come visit us or to spoil.
BUT...
Our children will never fully understand what a bully means, even if they are bullied.
If our children are asked to Prom or dates out of charity, they won't know the difference, they'll just be happy to go.
Their innocence is so sweet and unassuming.
They smile so much and giggle at the littlest things.
So, you see, the woman I watched talking about her life after children are grown is like the Matterhorn. Most people have heard of the Matterhorn. It is beautiful and really is something many would like to see and many make special effort to get there. When someone gets to the top of the Matterhorn it is something to brag about and publicize the success of conquering it. Once you have climbed it, it is done. It was an accomplishment of grand proportions but all you have left are the memories of what you did. Now you can sit back and just enjoy life from the dinner table knowing that you did something that will leave a mark in the world.
I am like Mt. Timpanogos. Not everyone has heard of it. The locals are proud to say that they have climbed it, but if they were to talk to some one in Germany, I don't think they would fully understand what was so wonderful about making it to Timp when they had made it to the Matterhorn, the famous Matterhorn. When a person climbs to the top of Mt. Timpanogos their name, nor any others who hike with them, will not go down into history as someone who summited Mt. Timpanogos.
So, I may not be on the majority's parenting journey, but it is still an equally beautiful journey.
I'm Mt. Timpanogos.
What are you?
2 remarks:
I am a Mt. Timp. I know what that is and although my Mt. Timp might not look like your Mt. Timp. It is still Mt. Timp, not the Matterhorn. Although, I am not even sure what my Mt. Timp will look like at this point.
I'm glad you understand, and it is so true that we don't know what it will look like after time. We do know that not many understand what Mt. Timpanogos is like ;)
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