thoughts post coffee date with a dear friend the other day

these thoughts are neither here, nor there...merely thoughts to remind myself one day of how sweet this season of life truly is.

coffee out with a friend is something of a luxury these days. sure, i scoop one up here and there at starbucks with a drive-through with all of my people in the car occasionally, but driving to a neighborhood shop to sit and chat over fresh morning buns and a very big chai latte...what a treat. 

it's easy to look at other peoples' lives and to want all the things that are not yours. people look at my life (our lives) and think that we are crazy. i know, because they have said as much in more or less words. my middle finger works really well, in case you didn't know. and while our lives may be counter cultural or counter-whatever, i would tell anyone, anytime that we are so rich. 

i cleaned up dinner tonight, something that's pretty routine, and sighed over the fact that mikey and i were really the only ones who ate anything that amounted to anything. and then i reminded myself that one day my problem isn't going to be figuring out how to feed 5 middle + high school aged boys meals that nourish their little bodies...it's going to be figuring out where all of the food has gone after what seems like i've just gone to the store. 

one day we're going to wake up to an empty, very quiet house (well, empty besides each other) and our little people won't be little any more. they'll be out, changing the world, and we'll miss the chaos that once was. of this, i am very, very sure. 

my capacity for chaos is high. my capacity for disorder may be even higher. my capacity for lack of sleep is also high (although the older i get, the more i really like sleep). bless mikey for putting up with my high capacity in all of these areas. it's still exhausting, shepherding and growing these five little dudes. and that's ok. it's a season that'll be gone before we know it and it's a seasons that i'm sure will seem easy compared to others as they come.  

i feel full and thankful. thankful for a life that is better than i could've ever dreamed up on my own... thankful for our little white house with ivy that climbs all the way up and over one side, for boys who clammer to sit in my lap or pull at my pants leg with arms stretched high for me to scoop up, for my biggest boy who calls me his best girl and snuggles me close a night until a little boy makes his sleepy way down to our bed for one of a hundred different reasons. a prayer of thank you, offered, daily, hourly.