Ordinary

I know it is true.

I know that most mothers look down at the small people that are their daily charge, blessing, challenge and legacy and think, 

"Gracious.  Extraordinary."

It is EXTRAORDINARY to watch a tiny one look at symbols, make sounds and blend it together to read a word.  It is magical to watch a tiny mind downloading the world around him, making connections and asking the most interesting, boggling questions.  It is fascinating to see a small person grow and change and wind like a river with all its unexpected turns and periods and peaceful and rapid currents.  

Yet.  I know it is ordinary.  Universal.  It is a gift, but I know it is not my unique present.  I know I am not mothering the way no one has before nor are my children doing abnormally delightful things.  We are supremely normal.

And...you guys, that only makes it more magical to me.  That in this world we get to bear witness to each other's lives.  That we get to be the ones to see each other put pieces together, revel in the people and world around us, make sense of the places we live and the things we do.  We get to watch each other and help each other along.  We get to belong to each other.

It is all very ordinary, myself, my people and my days.  We are doing very normal things, learning what generations have learned before us, feeling the same things those who have gone before us have felt.

I am taken aback by the gift that there is so much of that miracle everywhere...and that the abundance doesn't make it less extraordinary...but somehow...

makes it even more.