As a little girl, I grew up believing in fairy tales, magic dust, and "Once Upon a Time," and it would be wonderful if life really was that simple. I had a wonderful childhood, with Leave it to Beaver, The Brady Bunch, and Happy Days, and I truly believed life was going to be easy, peazy, lemon squeezy! Grrrr, fairy tales aren't real, magic dust flares up my allergies, and once upon a time, well, it really goes like this...
I loved my siblings and I was surrounded by wonderful parents who made each day seem like a stroll in the park. My life, as I knew it, was perfect in every way until I moved out of their home and into mine. That's when my suspicions began, and I realized my life would never, ever be the same again! Suddenly, I was thrust into the world where I came face to face with reality and stopped long enough to ask the proverbial question, "Who's paying for all this stuff?" It's amazing how wonderful life can be, when someone else is taking care of you, but when you become the gate keeper, life rears it's ugly head and the truth can no longer be hidden! What our parents don't tell us about the future is for our own good, because if we really knew what was out there - we'd never leave their home!
It all began when I had children of my own, and that's when my life started to snowball into an avalanche and before I knew it... it was too late! As a wife and mother, I truly understood the old adage "a day late and a dollar short," which eventually became my national anthem.
In the mid 70's I stood tall in my fluorescent polyester shirt and denim bell bottoms, with one child on my hip, and surrounded by little arms and elbow flying in all directions. Most of my days were spent changing dirty diapers, wiping snotty noses, crawling across the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, and wondering how in the world Mother Teresa could build an orphanage in a third world country and still manage to get her laundry so pearly white!
If you have had the opportunity of parenting children, then you will understand exactly where I am coming from. I've been puked on, spit at, lifted up, let down, peed on, put off, sneezed upon, drooled over, locked in, locked out, bit, scratched, pinched, poked, prodded and "loved it beyond measure" since that wonderful miracle of my first born child. It wasn't long thereafter, I delivered six more luscious little bundles of joy within the span of nine years, which multiplied those marvelous experiences a hundred fold.
In the mid 70's I stood tall in my fluorescent polyester shirt and denim bell bottoms, with one child on my hip, and surrounded by little arms and elbow flying in all directions. Most of my days were spent changing dirty diapers, wiping snotty noses, crawling across the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, and wondering how in the world Mother Teresa could build an orphanage in a third world country and still manage to get her laundry so pearly white!
Ask me if I am crazy and I would have to admit, absooolutely! I was crazy in love with the colorful faces and abounding energy nipping at my heals 24-7, 365 days a year, for - the - rest - of - my - life! One might think that somewhere, lurking deep within my reality, I would be scared straight after having seven children, but over the years we fostered five additional children to discover that love has a greater purpose when it's shared with others.
Over the span of about 25 years, I've attended the funeral services of approximately 11 goldfish, 3 gerbils, 9 cats, 4 dogs, 2 hamsters, 1 parakeet, 3 hermit crabs, 2 ferrets... and a partridge in a pair tree! Seriously, our backyard started looking like Arlington National Cemetery and according to the children, there was absolutely no place left in our yard to play, without walking upon sacred ground.
When I am asked, "who am I?" I proudly proclaim, "I am the mother of a small American village" and although, we didn't grow up in a grass hut with a thatched roof and dirt floors, there were many times I felt we were very close to being there. The nights were short, the days were long, and there was always "too much month at the end of the money," but we never had a dull moment and surrounded ourselves in love and adventure!
My children created their own home version of Fear Factor, long before the television program, only it was called, "Let's Scare the Life Out of Mom!" I have found a pollywog in my jewelry box, a mason jar in the freezer containing one black widow spider for a much needed science project, one of my expensive leather boots in the washing machine, fire crackers in our Halloween pumpkins, a real pighead man dummy on my front porch, 1,000 hot angry grasshoppers in the mailbox, dried up lizards in the sock drawer and the list of crazies go on, and on, and on!
Many years later, when all my children were raised and starting families of their own, I began to feel anxious and concerned my life would become mundane, or without purpose. Wrong again! I was delighted to learn I had become the spectator in this magnificent arena called life. With my winning ticket in hand, I proudly took a front row seat where I was excited to watch the circus begin!!! Now, it was my turn to sit back, snack on caramel corn, and enjoy the production of "Once Upon a Time, Second Generation!" With a sigh of relief and a twinkle in my eye, I was reaping the rewards of what I had sown and my cup was indeed full.
Throughout the years I have seen many ripples in the pond, and I feel inspired to say that love is the most powerful and magnificent of all the attributes; love and kindness are the ripples in the pond of life that will make it all the way to a distant shore! One fine day, we will all have the opportunity to look over our lives and examine the view of what we have created. There is nothing I would change, (except for maybe a few bad hairdos) and I can honestly say, "I would do it all again, in a heart beat!" by Linda Sumner Urza
Linda Sumner Urza, is the author of several children's books and short stories bringing laughter, tears, and joy to the reader. Her book, My Dad is Forever, is about the divine love between a father and his son, and the beginning of a series of children's books to promote the love of families. Linda, was born to wonderful parents in Moscow, Idaho, where she attended the University of Idaho, and discovered a passion for writing. Because of her love for children, she developed a curriculum for preschoolers and The Little Experience Preschool, where she enjoyed teaching for five years. When she was given the opportunity to become a counselor and mentor for the youth in her church, she donated her time in leadership positions, for over sixteen years.
Linda, has shared her experiences and adventurous stories for many years, and now is making it possible for everyone to enjoy them. She believes. "We see the reflection of ourselves, in our children's eyes."
Watch for her new children's book, A Time to Dream, (Illustrations by Disney artist, Jared Beckstrand) to be released in 2011 and the novel, Jillian St. Hillaire, (The mystery behind one woman's fragmented memories of another life) and coming this spring.
