Girls Aren't Scary

For a long time I felt like a boys mother - that I would be much better at boys because I don't mind rough housing, throwing around baseballs, and digging in the dirt*.  Girls scared me, mainly because of the hormonal mood swings that start way earlier that they should, and all that fru fru girly stuff.

After two boys then two girls I figured I would be back to boys again, but after delivering the fourth girl in a row and thinking, "Where's my boy???" I had a beautiful feeling a peace come over me, along with the thought that this is how it's supposed to be.

Greater perspective was built for me when I was visiting an older sister in our ward.  Well, purely by age I wouldn't think of her in the "older" category (she's close to the same age as my mother), but because of her health she is almost entirely bedridden and looks far older than she is.  She was asking me about my family, and when I mentioned my four girls her face lit up and she said, "Those girls are going to take good care of you someday."  If I remember right she has two boys and three girls, and she said while she loves being around her sons, the girls are the ones that really care for her.

The older my girls get, the more fun they really are.  I still don't enjoy the hormones - at all - but I had a great girls night with my four ladies tonight.  We've watched "Little Women" and two "Pride and Prejudice" movies together in the past, and tonight I introduced them to "Sense and Sensibility."  So fun to enjoy those goodies without the boys around writhing on the floor, rolling their eyes, or making snide comments.  And wonderful that my girls and I are building a friendship relationship with things we can enjoy together.

At the start of the movie Madeleine was super chatty.  She looked up to me and randomly said, "That would be funny if we had wings."  I agreed!

* I must say, my girls dig in the dirt waaaaay more than my boys ever did.  They really didn't seem to enjoy getting dirty.  The girls have zero problem with that.  Maybe their mom's tomboyishness has rubbed off on them too much.  Madeleine has lately even started telling me she's a scout girl and a camp girl, and that she gets to go to camp too (which yes, she'll get to when we go to family camp again).

Journeys

At our homeschool group earlier today, I overheard a few of the youth talking about a video on how Lord of the Rings should have ended, and they retold the story.  At the council in Rivendell when it was decided the ring needed to be destroyed, Gandalf says he has an idea, and the next thing you know, a few of the Fellowship are at the gates of Mordor taunting Sauron, while Gandalf and Frodo fly in on giant eagles and drop the ring into the fire.  Gollum dives in from who knows where and catches it, but still falls into the fire.  Ring destroyed, the deed is done, and they all fly happily home.  (I searched it out to add it - sadly, while it is animated, the taunting part involves a mooning, so no posting here.  If you look for it, cover the left side of the screen during that part.)

Listening to the story, I immediately started thinking, "But . . . ! But . . . !" when one of the listening youth quietly replied, "But Gandalf would never have become Gandalf the White."

Precisely.

They all stopped, and the conversation turned another direction.  But I continued it in my mind.

Gandalf would never have become Gandalf the White.
Aragorn would never have become king.
Frodo would never have been stretched to his end multiple times and still come out successful.
We never would have fallen in love with Sam's big heart.
Merry and Pippin would have never been separated or have found their bravery.
Legolas . . . just rocks always, but we wouldn't have seen him take down an oliphant.
Gimli would still hate elves.
Boromir would never have felt the pull of the ring and realized the doom of it, enough to fight to the death to protect those saving it.
Gollum would never have made it as far back to good as he did (even for a while).
The Ents wouldn't have gone to war.
The strongest bonds of friendship I've ever read about or watched would never have been forged.
The four hobbits wouldn't appreciate their home nearly so much.

And on, and on.  Just thinking about it all makes me want to read the books or watch the movies again to make notes on all that wouldn't have happened to make our hearts so full it overflows out our eyes when all those friends come together again in the end, successful.

Journeys aren't just about time, how long or short something takes.  Journeys are about doing, growing, becoming.