Stop interupting me!

This weekend was my Aunt Penny's funeral. The turnout was spectacular. How wonderful to see all the people she touched from such a wide array of life. But it was also painful beyond words. As I have said before, my mom and her sisters are inseparable. Watching them all deal with the grief made me want to scream out, "This just isn't fair! She didn't deserve this...none of them do!" My mom gave one of the eulogies and did a great job. I am always so impressed when she decides to use the courage I know she has. I cannot imagine the pain that is in her heart.

But with every dark cloud there is a silver lining and this one had three.

First, all of my cousins were there. It was wonderful to catch up with them. We don't stay in touch as much as we should, so this was nice.

Second, there was a wonderful lesson in family. When I looked at the family row, I had to smile. Her son Aaron was sitting with his ex-wife's daughter from a new marriage on his lap (she calls him daddy Aaron). There were parents of in-laws in the row. Aunts, uncles, cousins twice removed. What a testament to our family...it is not about blood, it is about love and inclusion. The best part was not one of us would have that someone in that row wasn't family!

And third, as I was listening to one of the men she worked with give a eulogy, he said something that made me re-evaluate my role. He was relating the story of a junior pastor who complained that he would be able to do his job better if people would just stop interrupting him. The response of the senior pastor was, "you're job is the interruptions."

How many times do I treat my children as an interruption to what I am doing...the dishes, dinner, working on school work, talking with friends? Probably more than i would care to admit. My pledge today is to try and give my children more undivided attention. I will still need to do other things (after all, an important lesson in life is also that it doesn't revolve around you), but i will work to give them the time to not be an interruption. I will try not to silently scream when they come running up to me just as I sit down to do something for me. This time is passing too quickly with them...one day they will not want me to hug and kiss them, especially in public. There will be fewer shouts of, "I love you," from the top of the stairs or over the baby gates. I do truly love these moments, and will try to not let them slip away unnoticed.

Now I must go wake my little interruptions from their peaceful slumber :-)