Midlife Creative

Our summer has been pretty quiet and boring. Kind of like the summers I remember as a kid. On a good day, growing up in small town Minnesota, I would walk to the library two blocks from my house and come home with an armful of books, retreat to the couch and read, read, read while my siblings played kick ball in the front yard. They would ask me to join the team, but they didn’t try too hard because they knew the answer was always “No thanks”.

When I wasn’t reading, I was playing the piano. I played and played and played. It didn’t matter that the piano was the most out of tune instrument on earth. Any piece of music I could find, I played. When I discovered chords, I played worship music and began to sing and play at church. I spent hours at that piano. In high school, I made a flyer on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white paper in Times New Roman Font declaring myself a piano teacher. Almost instantly, I found myself with about 10 students. This began what I never imagined would be a lifetime career path.

Fast forward to now…

The summer has been filled with lots of daily walks. We mostly walk around the Summit neighborhood of St Paul. I love looking at all the historic homes and beautiful flowers. Ivy, age 10, says when asked about taking walks, “I’m more of an indoor person”. Malia, age 13, says “Walks are good to get the body moving and clear the mind. I always feel better after taking a walk”.

My kids are not piano players and they throw a fit if I mention the library (maybe more of Mark’s kids in that way). Our two oldest kids were into theater and art. Our two younger kids have somehow become obsessed with sports. Both Malia and Ivy play tennis and volleyball and Ivy plays soccer.

This week we celebrated Ivy’s 1st place tennis tournament win at the SPUT summer carnival. She received a medal at the awards program. Tennis has been a great place to reconnect with some of my mom friends that I’ve met throughout the years. When Ivy was in preschool, we went to story time at the West 7th library every week and we always played with the same families each week. One of those families was in tennis this year. Another friend from Global Arts Plus, Ivy’s old school, also played. Coming back and seeing these mom friends again was such a sweet reminder of those early days when park dates and library storytime’s filled our mornings. I’ve always loved gathering with other families. When Ivy and Malia were young, I organized neighborhood park days, led a Moms of Preschoolers group, and joined ECFE. Being a mom was my LIFE. It was the same when Elliot and Tabby were young. My mom friends and I in Morris, MN held holiday themed parties for our kids, played at the Eastside park, and walked down the middle of the street hunting for garage sales with Diet Cokes in hand.

This week as I was coming back from a gathering at the Highland Pool with a couple of moms and their kids, Malia said to me “Mom, you better soak up these playdates where you get to stay with the kids because they aren’t going to last much longer.” Oh, Malia…you speak the truth.

These days of parenting young kids go by so quickly. I know my mom would feel similarly as she looks back on raising 7 kids to adulthood. We all gathered this past weekend at a family cabin to be together. It was a good reminder to me that every phase is beautiful. My mom is now in the Grandma phase and seeing her kids become parents themselves; another chapter that is sweet in its own way. I can’t begin to imagine where Mark and I will be 10 years from now. It’s a good reminder to make every day count.