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The invitation arrives when you least expect it, folded neatly like fresh towels still warm from the dryer and it wraps, unexpectedly, around your heart. The invitation reads something like this:
Dear Mom: You are cordially invited to a party. An After Party.
Your children are growing up. They’re heading out of the nest soon and all those years of love and sacrifice, cooking and cleaning, disciplining and discipling, yelling and listening are coming to an unceremonious end. This is your invitation to Act 2, to Motherhood: The After Party.
Because ‘mom’ isn’t your only name. The invitation says:
- Date and Time: After your children leave the nest.
- Place: Wherever dreams can go.
- Dress Code: Come as you are.
- RSVP: Attendance is mandatory.
When you receive this invitation it will hit you like a ton of bricks. Thoughts and questions will swirl in your head. Thoughts like, “Is this it? Seriously? They just pack up and leave and that’s supposed to be okay? What on earth am I supposed to do now?”
But honestly, how can you plan for the future when mothering takes every ounce of everything you’ve got? It’s difficult when you’re in the trenches and trying to imagine a time when they’ll be grown. And gone.
Because they do go. Because mothering is a journey of letting go.
A holy release made possible only by holding on to the One that matters most.