Vocation of Being-Together

A new school year brings a fresh opportunity to enjoy my children. Nothing beats just being together. 

I spend all afternoon and evening with Sebastian, Annie, Leigh and sometimes Clare (she is in and out of guitar lessons, working out with a buddy, etc.). Sebastian is taking a giant step in reading and writing, now that he's in 3rd grade. I sit with him after school and work on each cursive letter, each sentence, each spelling word. It is really fun to see him learn. Yesterday he read the phrase, referring to a car, "it tooted its horn." He just laughed and laughed. That sounded like a potty joke to him and he had tears streaming down his face, he was laughing so hard. We all laughed for a good, long time. 

Annie has just begun 7th grade the Swiss School of Rome. Like her sister Leigh before her, Annie is diving into the deep end of classes in German--pre-algebra, history, biology, geography etc. all in German. Then she has one or two classes in Italian (art, p.e., and of course, Italian), and her classmates speak Italian as their mother tongue so all the breaks are filled with middle-school-chit-chat in Italian--and Annie hangs in there and keeps up like a champ. Annie already has a "friend group" of half of the girls in the class, and they are sweet, sweet girls who have completely embraced Annie as their awesome new friend. She occasionally plays volleyball in school and just learned a song in German. 

Each afternoon, I sit with my kids in our make-shift living room on campus. We laugh and joke around. We get through each homework assignment while I make dinner. We pat the dog and fold laundry and talk and talk and talk. Leigh is usually with us and she too lets her guard down and relaxes. 

I'm in a new place which is really just my original place--wanting more than anything just to be together. Kindness, generosity, strength of character, personal fulfillment, and becoming a thriving person are forged in the crucible of loving, committed relationships. Each child needs to know more than anything that their parents know and love them. They need to internalize that their parents see them and like what they see. I see the long road ahead for Leigh, Annie and Sebastian, and the best way to help them in their future endeavors--as far as I can tell--is to spend each moment I can cherishing the little, often silly, seemingly insignificant moments with them as though they were priceless treasures. Because they are. This is my vocation which I cherish and adore: being together.