Hello Blog, from Ally. It's been
really a while for a visit from me. Have been a wee bit busy learning how to be a mom and working and moving to a new town and generally, trying to keep up my awesomeness on very little sleep! :) But I have learned a few things I thought I'd share with you:
1) Being a mother is a very fulfilling, exhausting, content, crazy, deeply satisfying, endearing, stupid-inducing, selfless, thankless, and beaming with pride and gratefulness type of endeavor. Kind of a mixed bag of every strong emotion you can imagine. There is nothing better in the entire world than that moment sitting in the nursery in the dark with a tiny warm person, whose life is intricately woven into your insides and your everyday life, snuggled on your shoulder, snoring and snuffling in her happy dreaminess. You just don't want to let that moment go.
2) Moving with an infant sucks. Don't even think for a minute you are ever gonna get those boxes unpacked. Just take 'em straight to the dump and call it a day. (And no, Scott, that is not permission to take them to the dump!)
3) You can make all the plans in the world. But life still happens. And there's a whole lot of it you cannot control. Insert: financial troubles, unexpected bills, layoffs, illness, et al. Learning to go with the flow will save you a lot of heartache from pushing so hard against that brick wall.
4) Love the one you're with. It's not just a song. It's a wisdom that I am learning about each day.
5) If you are super depressed / restless / cranky / bitchy / sad / lonely / grieving, try a gratefulness list each day. Just aim for 5 things. You will have to stop yourself when you hit about 30 and realize you should get some work done. Though is there any more important "work" than finding your inner gratefulness? Just try it.
6) People need to hear - more than once - that you love them and that you appreciate them.
7) When your daughter learns a new word, such as Lucinda's latest one, "okay," it suddenly becomes the most beautiful sound you have ever heard - like music, like liquid sweetness. "Are you ready to go to Jenn's, Baby?" "Okay." God, that is priceless.
8) Everything Lucinda Grace Snyder does is miraculous, highly advanced, and deeply intuitive. Just saying. heh heh
9) You don't know what the fuck is coming around the next corner. (Embrace this truth.)
10) Those who loved us and whom we have loved are still around, inserting their care and opinions in everyday glimpses. I swear Dad flies over my car at least once a week in the form of some miraculous bird who is swooping too close for comfort - except that I know it's him and it
is comforting. Be quiet and listen for a minute. There might be a message on the wind coming just for you.
Hope you are enjoying your summer. It will be 100 degrees today in New Hampshire. My brain may very literally melt into a pool of butter and sugar. Glad I got to tell you my "hello" before that happened.
Best! ~Ally
Lucinda in Mama's hat from when she was a baby. Early summer, 2012. photo by Scott.
Ally and Lucinda and friends in an Amish buggy in Bird-in-Hand, PA. June 2012. photo by Rebecca Durbin.
Dad and Scott, fishing on the Winnisquam in NH. Summer 2008. photo by Ally.
Ally & Tip, our dear Sheltie, who still sends his love from time to time. photo by Scott.
