So Much Joy and Some Tears....

This year has included so much joy for our family as two of our four boys will be married by year's end.  The first was in April in the beautiful Spring we enjoy here in the South.  The second will be a wonderful Fall wedding which is also a gorgeous time of the year here as it is cooler and the leaves are bright and colorful.  So that means that three out of four have found someone to share their lives with and we are so very fortunate to have such wonderful young women in our lives.

This year also has ushered in the final year of high school for our youngest and he will graduate next spring.  My how time flies and it truly does seem like yesterday that he was toddling around in diapers with a toothless grin and bald head.

Sadly - these happy occasions with all of the accompanying joy and love also bring about tears and frustration when you have a chronic illness.  Now I realize these are tearful moments for everyone, but for me, I shed a few tears here and there for different reasons.  There is the frustration that comes when we cannot afford to do as much as we would like for our boys because Mom hasn't worked for almost five years; there is the sadness I feel when I can't physically do things that I would like to, and be involved in their activities and festivities; and then there are the tears when at the end of a wonderful day of joy I am racked with pain and stiffness that will keep me from sleeping and the impending doom I will experience knowing that this overdone body of mine will revolt and remind me that it is no longer capable of doing what I so long to do.

But along with all of the tears, we experience the joy of our children and the fact that I can be present, even if in a limited way, and enjoy these triumphs in their young lives and make memories that I hope will be with them for a lifetime.  As with anything in life, we all have valleys and peaks and as I have been told, without the valleys, there would be no peaks.  I chose to embrace it all and enjoy every minute for life is short and time will not stand still for anyone.  As the old song goes I wouldn't have missed it for the world......