this book, titled "the velveteen mommy" is for, and i quote, "if you feel like a worn-out mommy who is getting loose in the joints, with her patience thinning and her energy level depleted, read this book."
after this last week, this described me to a "t".
i know a lot of you who read my meager musings are mommy's, whether experienced or brand new. some of you are husbands of mommy's, others are those who are planning and hoping to be mommy's (and daddy's) and some aren't even comtemplating parenthood, but i love that you care enough to take a peek into our lives...so while the next two quotes may not bring you to tears like they did me (insert hormonal joke of your choice here), they have given me hope and a new and exciting outlook on mommyhood.
"what is real?" asked the rabbit...
"real isn't how you are made," said the skin horse..."when a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with but REALLY loves you, then you become real."
"does it hurt?" asked the rabbit.
"sometimes," said the skin horse, for he was always truthful. "when you are real you don't mind being hurt...by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and all very shabby. but these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
~the velveteen rabbit by margery williams bianco
"the cradle calls us to come away from the busyness of the world - to rediscover the holy, unhurried life of a child and to discover that as we pour ourselves into the lives of our little ones, life overflows, in return. for the cry of a baby in the middle of the night is not simply a summons to change a diaper - it contains within it more than our ears can hear. it is a call to leave the cozy self-interest of our warm beds; to come, saying no to a thousand voices that tell us to remain where we are comfortable. it is a call to come away from ourselves. no one who has ever heeded this call will tell you it was in vain."
~come to the cradle by michael card
here is to having our hair loved off, our eyes drop out and becoming real as we pour our lives into the children entrusted to us...
