Mom Anthem

We are the people of the 7:00 bedtime.

We are the people with the dented walls, the crayoned walls, the inexplicably toilet papered walls.

We are the people who stay up too late, either to get more more thing done, or to do nothing at all.

We are the people who fear we are slowly going crazy and who loudly say with clear-eyed realism that this is not hyperbole, this is real life.

We are the people who will do anything for another giggle, pay anything for a better diaper cream or sippy cup, cook anything for a sick tummy.

We are balm for the littlest of broken hearts.

We are the people who cheer each other from afar, trapped at home for naps, reaching out for comfort and to support.

We are the people who say, "No, you're doing okay under that pile of laundry," and, "Have you considered using paper plates every now and then?"

We are the people who die a thousand little deaths every day,
          without much time to pause for anything.

Pause now.

Breathe.

We are people of the cross,
     as an identity and as a lifestyle.

We are people of the future.
We are people of hope.
We are people of faith.
We are people of love.

We are objects of grace, we are vessels of mercy, we are not strangers to the flood, but we are also of hearts that overflow.

We are people who will wake tomorrow to mercies anew. We give of our lives because Life has been given.

Sleep well, my friends, for tomorrow we love and we die and we live again.