Of One Good Mother

After yesterday's rant, I wanted to change gears a little and share a story I found to be deeply inspiring about the influence of a woman.

One of the most remarkable examples of the sphere and influence a mother has is the life of Sarah Edwards, the wife of Jonathan Edwards, a minister and early colonist. Sarah raised eleven children while her husband busied himself with writing and ecclesiastical duties, becoming the famous one of the family. She stayed in the background as a homemaker--valuing each child's individuality and intelligence, educating both sons and daughters, but also teaching them to work responsibly. A genealogical study later tracked down 1400 of the descendants and compared them to another family who were notorious for criminality and welfare dependency. The Jukes family cost the State of New York a total of $1,250,000 in welfare and custodial charges, while the Edwards descendants boasted the following: 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers and a dean of an outstanding law school, 80 holders of public office, 3 U.S. Senators, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice President of the U.S. and a controller of the U.S. Treasury, not to mention the countless numbers who were successful in business and the arts. Only two of these 1,400 were 'black sheep,' which eloquently testifies to the power of one great women." (Elisabeth D. Dodds, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The "Uncommon Union" of Sarah and Jonathan Edwards)

Talk about validation of a mother! Here's my hats off to all good women out there, who are somehow able to see beyond the endless piles of laundry, who clean mess after mess, cook, manage finances, change diapers, read to and love their children, teach them, and are able to find deep meaning and joy in their role as a mother, despite motherhood often being looked down upon in society. Your contribution is immense, more then you may ever realize in your lifetime. Make no mistake, you good mothers change the world, one poopy diaper at a time. (-; Yeah, I know, way to end on an eloquent note--I just couldn't resist!

Grrrrr.....

Why do I feel like I am about to cry? I'll tell you why. Because I am tired of living in an apartment with (a) stupid nosy neighbor who writes us and all the other neighbors up for any infraction of the HOA rules, our most recent letter in this case being the storing of something other then our car in the garage. (Hello, where, exactly are we supposed to store bikes and strollers if not in our garage?) I am tired of being sent letters from the HOA about how I am not allowed to have my beautiful hanging planters up outside on my deck. I am tired of this same stupid neighbor writing us up for leaving our hose screwed in, especially considering we have no immediate next door neighbor, so NO ONE CARES! Except for said neighbor. I keep trying to talk myself into feeling sorry for her, since she obviously must have a miserable life, and all the rest of the neighbors share my feelings for her, but it is getting REALLY hard. I feel like crying because it just makes no economic sense for us to even move to a different rental. I feel like crying because I really want a house--I want someplace to call my own, and to paint, and plant a garden, and put in the kind of flooring I want...but again, with the outrageous price of housing here, and considering we will likely be here for less then three more years, that doesn't make sense, either. I am getting so tired of trying to be patient for everything. I feel guilty for writing this post, because there are so many in the world that have next to nothing, and here I am complaining. Which makes me feel even worse. I should go to bed.