the other mothers.....

ok, so i stopped to chat with another mother of a graduating senior after sunday school.......have you started sorting through pictures for the senior sunday slide show....?......yes.....but it is so hard to choose just 12.......yes....it is difficult to distill one's child's life prior to graduation from high school down to just 12 photographs......we started attending this church when our middle child was but a babe....and therefore he has known no other church....and for the most part these other seniors who will be in attendence on may 15 are kids he has known since he could walk/talk....regardless of whether they are danville or boyle.....these are children who came to 3rd and 4th birthday parties.....who played together on peewee league soccer.......who sang int he children's choir and rang bells......until they either found better things to do with their wednesday evenings, sunday nights, and early sunday mornings.......i have to give my middle child credit- he is till coming to church willingly....for at his age i was arguing with my parents on a weekly basis about going to church.......and i showed them by refusing to attend in college, graduate school, and even into the young married state of grace.......but having children tends to cause parents to rethink their faith.....and this was the church where we ended up when we decided that we needed to get back to church....i must add that we had the option of going the catholic route....but my feminist leanings couldn't tolerate that option........and though this church holds dear many of the same things that i value.......such as the ordination of women as deacons, and pastors......there are still time when i feel that i am out of synch with the basic theology.......who knows where i will attend at this time next year.....but for now....this is the church that has nutured my children thus far.....and who will recognize our middle child in two weeks as a graduate-to-be...one of these seniors of which i speak once commented to me.....stephan is the smartest boy i ever met.......who couldn't love a child who thinks so........that was a theme in today's sermon....that we tend to love people who love us back...and that it is only those wioth true faith who can branch out into the realm of loving enemies.........but i digress.......this will be an emotional month for me...mean or not...this mamma has invested heavily in the happiness of her children...and it is hard to see them grow up and move on........i am certain that the other mothers feel the same.......