this wild & messy journey...

 Do you ever look back at your childhood and think it's a wonder you made it out alive?

No, not because we likely made our parents want to throttle us...

I'm talking about all the silly.stupid.senseless things we did as kids before we knew any better. 

Now that the roles have switched - and I'm the mama - I'm starting to wonder what learning curves my own children will go through.

Will experience be a hard teacher and knock them down... or will they bounce back stronger?

Lord help them if they turn out like their mama:

My first collection were 'baby pancakes' (the tiny batter splatter) which I stored in a ring box... until the day I decided I was done collecting... and ate them.

When I was still too young to swim well (or at all)... I almost drowned.. twice.. at the same camp.

On a family trip to Niagara Falls I thought it would be fun to scare my Mom and pretend to climb over the railing... not so funny it turns out.

While playing hockey in our basement I accidentally smashed the light bulb... clever me decided to get up on a chair and unscrew the remaining piece left in the socket.... zap!  My arm felt quite floppy.funny for a while.. and I thought it best to not tell my parents. 

When my older sister needed crutches, I decided to play with them... and then thought I'd try going down our stairs... as I launched forward it was then that I realised my feet couldn't reach the steps below while suspended on the crutches... but momentum had already sealed my fate.

Sometimes I find myself needing a paper bag when I start to think of what could befall our own kids.

But, I choose to trust that the same good God Who guided me through, will hold their hand too.  

For all the other bruises.scratches and thumps this world may give them... I will be there to kiss it better as best I can, and show them the scars that says "mama's been there too".

Mel ;o)