. . . I'm SIMON!!
It's so funny, as a mom I really feel like I am always running and trying to catch up to someone or catch up on something (i.e. blogging). I thought this picture illustrated my frazzled existence at times.
My maternal grandmother has eleven children. Throughout the last four years I have reflected often on how she did what she did. Recently I sat down and read part of her personal history. This recollection was just following the birth of her 9th child.
We had remodeled our home again rather than move off the homestead . . . Merritt was wearing himself out being husband, father, pediatrician, and bishop in double tandem. We adjusted to the clutter and the clatter. I had spent enough time in Clara Rebecca's (her mother-in-law) home to cherish at least a semblance of order which took care of the clutter and being in Mary Dott's (her mother) house had given me a good tolerance for the clatter. Heather caught a few more bugs than the other eight children as we began to break the long established pediatric rules and took her to church before she finished her immunizations. The bishop's wife is expected to be present each Sunday and by now, it took a whole row to accommodate us. I was experiencing, with each passing day, the complexities of multiparity. The big family you dreamed about and planned to have as you slept under the stars at girl's camp, had presented itself in all its awesome reality. We had put our hand to the plow and couldn't nor wouldn't turn back. And Jesus said unto him No Man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom (Luke 9:62). I was trying hard to refute Shakespeare's Frailty, they name is woman. I knew in my heart that motherhood was not just getting pregnant, minimizing morning sickness, seeing my waistline disappear, bearing down, and crowning a baby and offering the breast at intervals. It was a prolonged and mighty social, spiritual, and physical commitment. (White Acres, 46)
I am grateful to have Marcia White Egan's words and wisdom regarding being a mother. I will use her words to strengthen me rather than realize I feel overwhelmed at times with just two little ones.
11 comments:
Andrea: I adore your Grandmother Egan! (I like to pretend she is my grandmother too) What "good stock" you Hyde women come from, her words are inspiring! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome picture! And thanks for sharing your grandmother's journal entry. It definitely was inspiring!
I love Grandma! Oh how I miss the days of living behind her and doing my laundry each week at her house. I would always get a little nugget of wisdom as I passed through...
wow...I have to agree with the good stock comment...it really is amazing to think of what our grandparents faced...my grandpa was in the war for 2 years while my grandma was home with her kids...but not 11...sheesh..you have a long way to go andrea...ha ha
She was quite the woman...I will never think of her without thinking of a spunky lady doing a funny jig and ALWAYS being happy! Cute picture!
Cool picture! It should be in US Weekly or something. You look like a star. You gotta love the way Wanna (Grandma) describes it. It made me laugh!
Wow. What an amazing women. Makes me realize how easy my life is in comparison! Thanks for sharing.
An Egan? I know the Egans! I agree with the unanimous sentiment that your grandmother's are indeed wonderful words; what a blessing to have her personal history. And what a fabulous photograph!
Very wise works. I love the picture!! I understand how you feel and I only have 2 as well.
Wow, that is inspiring! And just what I needed this week. Frazzled is just a tiny fraction of how overwhelmed I feel at times! Your grandmother's words are at once strengthening and humbling, and oh the perspective! Women like her were meant to have 11 children :)
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