My chicks have flown. They came to nest in a bunch and then flew off in a flock. I guess I should have known it would happen that way. It’s just that for so many days and weeks and years, it seemed that they would never be able to fly on their own!

Now looking back at the mindbogglingly short time they were actually in our nest, I wish I could have loved every minute of the time I spent doing those seemingly mundane tasks that make up so much of a mother’s day.

But loving the tasks is not the point. Here at the the end of one personal era and at the beginning of another, I see that I did love every minute, that is, I did love them every minute, and that love motivated me to stretch further than I thought I was able, dig deeper into my soul than I thought I could, and hold tightly enough to the belief that making a family was the most profound thing we could or would ever do, and that we would make it successfully through…

I look back and give thanks!