It's official. This week I became that mom. I snagged a brand new food processor off Craig's List and gave a visit to our neighborhood fresh food mart. Mangoes, yams, carrots, avocados, papayas ... if I could pronounce it I brought it home. Two days later the top shelf of my fridge is piled high with all sorts of pureed goodness. Me, the maker of homemade baby food?
In ninth grade I spent my lunch money every day on a Nutty Bar and a bottle of Sunny D. I'd rather shoot hoops in the driveway than cook anything in the kitchen. I couldn't imagine a day when my mom wouldn't be nearby to sew on a button or make sure I separated my whites and colors. And heaven forbid I eat my morning Golden Grahams with anything other than SportsCenter streaming through the tiny TV on our kitchen counter.
But then something happened. A slow evolving. A subtle transformation that comes with ordinary days and kairos moments and is measured only by the fine lines next to my eyes and the year on the calendar. It didn't happen the day I graduated from high school or donned cap and gown four years later. It wasn't just with my first kiss, my first teaching job, or the first time I didn't get the position I interviewed for. It can't be defined just by the private moment I shared with my dad before walking down the aisle or when I promised forever to my best friend a few minutes later. It wasn't in the wee hours of that Colorado summer morning when my Jalynn breathed her own air for the first time. And it wasn't marked solely by the birth of my California baby, my messenger of God, my squishy Malakye.
I can't pinpoint it to any one of these. Yet somewhere in all of this I grew up ... I guess it took a food processor and some fresh produce to make me realize it.
Now here I am. Mommy of two. Planter of flowers. Experimenter of chicken casserole recipes. Serious considerer of homeschooling. Packer of picnic lunches. Mender of buttons. Maker of homemade baby food.
I wonder what's next ... Cloth diapers? Mom jeans? Bangs?
Naah. I'll just stick to baby food for now.
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I love reading your blog. Your insights into the profundity and simplicity of motherhood are poignant. I wonder the same; when did I become a woman? More than that, when did I become a mom? Good stuff, Sharron! Good stuff.
ReplyDelete(PS: I cloth diaper. Sometimes. Only when it's convenient. Rarely. :)
i can relate! homemade baby food is the best, and so good for baby! we also cloth diaper most of the time - it's not as crazy as it seems!
ReplyDeletewe are also seriously considering home schooling. actually, it's our plan right now, God willing, so unless something changes in the next two years, we're onboard! i'm really excited to be able to be with my kids all the time (and continue to train them in Godliness twenty four hours a day!).
Aaah, Nutty Bars! Brings back some good memories. :) Love this post. My 9th grade self doesn't seem that far away some days. The transition into a "grown-up" definitely isn't as cut and dried as we imagined it would be when we were kids.
ReplyDeleteGood call on the bangs, but reconsider mom jeans: a nice 18" zipper, high pockets, tapered ankles...very L.A.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon! So fun to find your blog! I loved this post on all the "mom things" you do now...I have thought the same thing, too, as I experiment with things I never imagined I'd do before becoming a mom. And, I hope I never embrace mom jeans, but I am a cloth diaperer! ;)
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