I'm The Mom? I'm The Mom!

I had another one of those moments tonight -- one of those right-of-passage milestones with One that causes me to vividly remember back to the same milestone the last time I knew it -- when I was the pre-teen.

I was "all that!" (Only we didn't call it that then.) I was young, thin, confident and in the bloom of my youth. I was hip with the hair and the clothes and the piercings (yeah, in the mid-80s it was fairly edgy to have 2 piercings in one ear -- and I had 4!) It was all about...me. Everyone was always thinking about...me. Everyone was always looking at...me. Well, not so much true as just my perspective at the time. Anyway, it's always a little unnerving to realize in the middle of that memory stream that now I'm the middle-aged, over-weight, over-stressed, tired, uphip, uncool, invisible mom. Oh for cryin' out loud! I'm the mom?!

O.k. Well. It is what it is. Maybe what I ought to be looking forward to is being a blue-haired lady.

When I'm a little old lady, I'll call it like I see it!

I'll stop people in the store and ask them if they know my Jesus, and they won't think I'm crazy as much as just someone's darling grandma.

I'll tell the young women to button up their blouses because men like a little mystery.

I'll politely challenge the self-absorbed beauty to consider if she struggles with vanity or if it's still a blind spot in her life?

I'll give a sweet admonition to the rude toddler in the store, that he should honor his mother, and she won't give me a dirty look that says I ought to mind my own business.

I'll encourage the brow-beaten man in the crowd to greatness by complimenting his well-mannered family, thereby quietly helping him see his family as his.

Yes, those will be good years. Crazy bold for the Lord. I look forward to it. In the meantime, I'll keep studying to show myself approved...