My Three

It's almost impossible for me to write about our traditions without writing about my children. I have a feeling they will appear quite a bit in my posts. So let me introduce my three.

Ida is twenty-one and is currently training to become a member of a professional ballet company. She spent three years in a studio company in Louisville, Kentucky and will be moving to Virginia later this summer to begin an apprenticeship - at the very place where she first fell in love with ballet and began her training. 

She was my strong-willed firstborn and there were days when I didn't think I would survive her childhood. These days I have been known to say that I wish I was like her. I think she is brave, resilient, dedicated, and huge hearted. 

John is my middle child. He is eighteen and just graduated high school last month. He has always been my little old man. He thinks and feels so very deeply. There is a story I always tell about my John Boy (yes, he lets me call him that still).

 When I found out I was pregnant with him, his sister was in one of her continuous rough stages and was wearing me out. So, each morning I would put my hands over my stomach and pray, "Lord, let this child be different." 

What I meant was different than his then difficult sister. But God definitely made John different - in the very best kind of ways. 

Then there is Asa. After four years of trying to get pregnant, I thought God was telling me our family was complete. We had a yard sale and sold every baby item we owned. A few months later, at age 42, I found out I was pregnant. God definitely has a sense of humor.  

He's the kind of child who dragged me out of my box - by tearing it apart, stomping on it, and lighting it on fire. From the moment our third born became mobile, he hasn't stopped. He is now thirteen and still moves a lot and talks even more, but his love for people make him a bright light. I have always said that he will either keep me young or kill me. So far, so good. 

All three of my children have their favorite traditions and sweet memories of years past and all the things we have done. I love sitting at the kitchen table with them and hearing all the things they remember. 

Those thoughts and comments continue to inspire me - even though they are twenty-one, eighteen, and thirteen. It makes me happy that some traditions are lasting into adulthood.