My Mothers' Day.

Yesterday I was treated to a day in the mountains and it was FABULOUS!  We stopped at Coffee Traders in Cochrane on the way (my absolute favorite coffee shop) for a mocha and then had a picnic and hike at Johntson Canyon.  I love the Rockies.  It was a peaceful, quiet, nature-filled day with sightings of bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, and of course numerous birds and squirrels.  The air smells so clean and crisp and it's always a pleasure to see the towering evergreens, verdant mosses and crisp, clear water...reminds me of the north of my childhood.  I remember making fairy houses with carpets of moss underneath the drooping branches of jack pine and walls of birch bark.  Now I'm back to the computer, working on my newest article for Cloth Paper Scissors, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air at home, drinking my green tea and preparing samples for the magazine.  Yes it is fun, but it would be even better if I could do this in the mountains today.

There are so many changes taking place in my life - the opportunities I have received are amazing and, at the same time, my eldest child is leaving the country for a week, and then preparing to leave for university in three short months.  I am a homebody and nurturer so these are huge mountains to climb for me.  It's difficult to let go and yet so necessary - for both of us.  I have had many tear-filled days, of sorrow for my breaking heart and of joy for her wings.  I am so very grateful that I was blessed with another daughter who will be here for a number of years yet but I will miss my first child.  I remember when I had her, a surprise when I was near thirty years of age, as I had always been told that I would not have children.  And then I couldn't fathom how my heart would swell with love for her.  And then, six years later I was blessed with another...and I was certain this time that my heart couldn't grow, couldn't expand any more, and it did...beyond measure.  I am a grateful mother.