Mountain Tops

I admit it. I love a good analogy. And here is my new favorite...  I was talking with a good friend (and mother of 3!) the other day about the impending life change I was about to undergo when the kids started crawling. She so wisely called it another one of the "motherhood mountain tops". And that's what they are. Periods of time that are extremely challenging, physically and mentally. Things so difficult that the faint of heart need not attempt them. But times that provide you with a beautiful new vista for all your efforts.  My first mountain top was the first weeks home with two newborns. It was sort of like trying to summit Everest on your first hiking trip. You've bought the gear and read the books but that gives you little comfort as you're sucking wind only a half-mile out of base camp, wondering what miracles will have to occur for you to survive the trek to the top in one piece. You have no idea what you're doing, you just know it's hard. Incredibly hard. And you can't do anything but depend on others and try to always give your best effort, hoping it's enough to get you through the next 24 hours. And miraculously, it is enough. You make it, step by step, up the mountain... sometimes in tears and often flanked by doubt. Joined at times by pain and suffering but always carried by love, a spirit of gratefulness and every ounce of fortitude you can muster.  And what a reward there is for the effort!! Seeing my babies peacefully sleeping, hearing them laugh for the first time, watching them begin to see the world and learn about themselves, holding them close, the smell of their breath... I suppose trying to describe the boundless joys of that time is a little like trying to tell someone what the world looks like from the moon. You can only describe awe like that if you've experienced it yourself. But it's that reward that carries you through as you make your way to the next mountain top.  That's where I'm at now, mountain top #2. The difference is this time, I have a little experience mountain climbing. I have some gear and a few tools. And I've gotten to know a few fellow climbers that I can lean on when the going gets really rough. So as my life changes once more, and I begin to mother two mobile kidlets who know no fear but are driven by an insatiable curiosity I say, "Bring on Mount Crawling!"...