Privileged

It is Thursday night and school starts on Monday.  I have gone to meet the teacher and check out the classroom.  I have given pep-talks and bought new shoes.  School supplies are already packed in the back pack and the fridge in the garage is full of juice boxes and lunch "stuff".  I am sitting here while my lovelies sleep upstairs.  This last week I have been doing the whole school clothes shopping thing.  One particular day I was wandering into a store and it struck me how privileged I am to be doing this.  As much as I could grumble about the expense, time, irritation it is to do it, I am more than anything - grateful.  What a sublime privilege it is to have these three little bodies to clothe.  How blessed I feel that I live in a place where I can easily purchase the things that they need and send them to a school that is safe.  How lucky I am to be their mother.  My kids have issues, some more serious than others, and sometimes I would love to escape their antics but they are mine.  Each smile, each slobbery kiss, each pony-tail is mine to see and cherish.  They irritate me and drive me to near insanity but I love them more than I knew I could love.  I am feeling so grateful to kiss their cheeks and send them off to another year where they will become more of the person they are going to be.  I'm excited to get to know them as they change before my eyes.  Life is complicated, expensive, sticky, and cluttered but most of all - it's good, and it's mine, and once again - I am grateful.