I’m not a crier, especially in front of my kids, but yesterday during lunch I started crying… not a sad cry, a proud cry.
Let me set the scene.
Once the waitress delivered our drinks, my oldest son William grabbed his cup and said, “Cheers!” So everyone grabbed their drinks and started clinking. I took this moment to look at the 5 of them, at was only seconds… but I’ve seen these 5 kids do something remarkable this summer and it’s touched me to the core. We’ve moved this summer to a new town and they haven’t complained or gotten upset or made us feel like they didn’t want to be here, not once. Moving is not easy, especially at the ages my sons are at – 9, 10, 11 and 12. Most of these kids have been together since kindergarten, so my kids are coming in at tough ages. But they truly have taken this whole move thing in stride and I’m so proud of them.
As they started cheering and laughing and seeing who would spill (cue my life), I couldn’t stop the tears. I looked at each one of them and told them how proud I was of them this summer. They have been so brave and so tough and so helpful. They have truly taken on this gigantic transition and just been really, really wonderful about it.
New home.
New bedroom.
New street.
New environment.
New school.
New EVERYTHING.
And guess what else happened this summer. Some serious sibling bonding.
My kids got closer. They bonded more because they needed to rely on each other more. It only dawned on me the other day just how much closer they’ve all gotten when I saw them sitting together (unprompted because I was done taking their photos!) and playing with Victoria. She was singing Annie show tunes for them and dancing all around, trying to make them laugh. She was cracking them up!
It made me smile.
Our move strengthened their sibling bonding incredibly, and that’s a wonderful thing. They’ve never really needed each other like this before and so, I think they’ve learned this summer how lucky they are to have each other. I don’t know if they’d actually admit it, but as their mom… I can. 🙂
