Bloom Where You Are Planted
Bloom Where You Are Planted
For many years, I have had a sign on my front porch that says, Bloom Where You Are Planted. When I first made it, the phrase resonated with me because we had moved far away from our family and friends. It was a reminder to myself that each day I needed to tend to my family and work to help us have a fulfilling life where we were transplanted.
After fifteen years, I am seeing the beauty in what we've worked so hard to cultivate.
Plant the Seeds
In the day-to-day of raising kids, it is easy to get bogged down in the small things. I often tell my kids that it is my job to raise them into good, kind, human beings that can adult successfully. That's a really tough job! Not because my kids could be better people. But because of all of the societal pressures that get thrown in.
We are constantly planting seeds throughout their lives. And like a garden, no matter how much we tend them, there will be seeds that don't sprout, some that sprout but die off, a handful that will grow wild and crazy, and a handful that will stand tall and strong.
The sweat and tears that go into cultivating and maintaining a garden are similar to raising our kids. We also see the fruits of our labor as they grow and find the joys and beauty in the journey.
For the past few months, I have watched my kids bloom in the most beautiful ways!
Growth
The teenage years are not for the weak-hearted. Your child no longer needs you to help them in the same ways. You go from being the world's best mom to their biggest enemy in the blink of an eye with no idea what just happened. It's a time of watching your child spread their wings and try to fly without you there carrying them. It's standing to the side allowing them to reach for their dreams but being just a phone call away if they need you.
In the past, I have watched as my shy little girl struggled to push out of her shell, trust, and advocate for herself. We worked on these life skills every day of her childhood. The high school years brought new challenges. Again, whether she realized it or not, we worked on the life skills needed to push through.
Each time, her stubbornness brought me to my knees. I cried more tears than I really cared for others to know about. We celebrated, encouraged, challenged, supported.
Bloom
When my shy little girl finally cut the umbilical cord at sixteen, it was challenging for me as she was always my shadow.
When the same girl said she wanted to go all the way to New York for college in a non-traditional setting we sucked it up and supported her dreams.
We had planted the seeds of courage and self-confidence. She grew straight and strong, able to stand against the winds of change. Capable of more than she ever thought possible. She was ready to fly!
She has grown and learned so much since being in New York. Adulting is a challenge but she is facing it head-on.
In her college path, it is a requirement to take a semester externship to get real-world experience. Over the course of nine months, I watched her advocate for herself time and again. She listened to her heart. She paid attention to the vibes she got from others. She turned down opportunities that didn't fill her cup or meet what she wanted. She's now at the happiest place on earth and is soaking up every moment of fun that she can.
She is living her best life and we love watching her grow into this new phase of life.
Beautiful Garden
In the everyday mess of life, it is easy to focus on the weeds. To get stuck in the cycle of drought and flooding. It's easy to forget that from all of this hard work the blooms that are meant to survive, will. Parenting is hard. Life's challenges can be hard. The emotional rollercoaster keeps us asking if we are doing things right. The images we see on social media make us wonder if we are doing enough, make us question our decisions, and can lead us down a rabbit hole of self-doubt.
All we can do is keep tending the garden, pulling the weeds, watering, and adding fertilizer. We can remind ourselves that even with all of the hard work we put in, there will be years full of hardship and there will be years with a bountiful harvest. We can take all the same actions, but we can't force each seed to grow exactly as we want.
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