On my wall hangs one of the details that I love in my house, a cuckoo clock handcrafted in Germany. It’s so much a part of my house that I don’t hear the constant tick tock, or even the cuckoo and subsequent song on the hour. I sleep through it like a baby. I have gotten so used to the noise, that I actually find peace within it. I only notice it when I haven’t pulled the chains and it stops. I become aware of the silence and I know that something is off.
Time is an elusive thing that fools us into believing that there will always be more of it. So much so that sometimes we wish seasons away because we are waiting for what’s next to come. We convince ourselves that maybe, just maybe, it will be better than it is today. We make decisions believing that we have time to fix them if they go awry. We look for bigger, better, and how great it’s going to be instead of being satisfied in this very moment. Then one day you realize that that season is over, and you just wished you had more time.
In the next few days I will be packing up and driving across the country to bring our youngest to college. Where has the time gone? I’m not a unique mom. My kids are my world and for nearly 23 years I have enjoyed each one of them more than thoroughly (most of the time, ha). Having homeschooled, I have been surrounded by them, and them by me, for their whole lives. That doesn’t make me special, it just makes their constant presence an integral part of my fiber. Each one has blessed me more than I deserve, just by being themselves in my life.
We raise our kids to help to give them a solid foundation that they can build their own walls on. As parents we get to usually witness the infancy of the new construction on a daily basis. We get to observe their character develop and their hearts shine. I for one, stand in awe, knowing that only by the grace of God could these humans be who they are. Each one is beautiful in their own uniqueness, and all will forever be solid beams in the structure of our home. After the new construction phase is over however, the fine points start to take shape and it’s time for them to accumulate these details on their own.
This time, whether they go off to school, get a job, or do whatever it is that helps them build, is part of the trajectory of life. It's a critical component in the architecture of their own being. (If I keep repeating it, it will be true-kidding.) Even though our own structure feels a little fractured with the absence of their presence, the magnificent possibilities of their unique creation will be erected and displayed. They will make their own noise, pick out their own decorations for their lives and continue to build on that rock of a foundation.
All we can hope as parents is to be invited into their doors to glimpse and marvel at what they made on that foundation.
After this drop off (can I pretend it’s preschool?), I will come home, to their home, hoping that the cuckoo hasn’t stopped, craving the noise within these walls, always willing to help pick out any of the details for them that they may need.