There are many, many things that are dear to me, but one of the dearest is a reader.
A dear reader contacted me with this finding, a sterling silver “breakfast cereal necklace.” Yes, that very breakfast cereal that is so dear to us mothers, dear because it infiltrates and overtakes our lives and carpets and tabletops and carseats, ground into dust on floorboards, sofas, strollers, and high chairs, hidden in tiny fists and under tongues, carried in ziplocks, diaper bags and purses, never ever to be without until the day they disappear for good.
They disappear. You can try to cast them in silver and string them around your neck, but they disappear, and that’s what makes them precious, our Cheerio days. They disappear.
This is a road that is neither solid nor silver, and all the more priceless for leaving no trace.
Thank you, dear reader.
*blush* The thanks are to you for sharing your “Os”(ups and downs) for the rest of us to enjoy with you.
Motherhood loves company, if possible, even more then misery, and though we’ve never met, you’ve given me, and us all, that.
Comment by Jeannie — November 9, 2008 @ 5:25 am
So appropriate.
Here, in the midst of my Cheerio days (one at a time for years, I hope), it’s always so nice to be reminded to stop complaining and enjoy this silly crazy messy time.
Always thanks for reminding me!
Comment by Mrs. B. Roth — November 9, 2008 @ 5:39 am
I love it.
Comment by Kristin H. — November 9, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
and sometime they disappear much too fast.
Comment by Cat — November 9, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
I’ll keep seeing you in dreams. And I hope, someday, in person.
Comment by Jena Strong — November 9, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
You know.. I was thinking about this last night and i think that the cheerio’s don’t really disappear, they just change. They change into soccer or basketballs, they change into the wheels on our first car, and then they change into that little “O” that goes on the fourth finger of our left hand, until we are ready to start the process over again. I think the trick, is enjoying the m”O”ment we are in, and be thankful to have ever been here at all.
Comment by Jeannie — November 9, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
p.s. Shortly after leaving my first comment, I remembered my dream last night – I was recommending Momma Zen to a couple of women with new babies. I told them about – and said that this was the only book having anything to do with being a mama (and so much more) they should read. Then I wondered, in the dream, whether I could afford to buy them copies myself. It is official, Karen: Your book is lovingly embedded in my subconscious.
xo
Comment by Jena Strong — November 9, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
Jena,
In my dream you can afford them.
xo. In my dream, no one can afford not to have them.
Comment by Karen Maezen Miller — November 10, 2008 @ 12:53 am
🙂
Comment by Shelli — November 10, 2008 @ 1:34 am
I love these Cheerio days. Even when I have to vacuum the rug over and over.
Comment by Kathryn — November 10, 2008 @ 5:28 am
Jeannie put the O’s in context beautifully. As the job interviews increase and graduation day looms ever closer, I will remember this post as my daughter throws her cap (an O inside a square!) into the air. I miss those Cheerio days so!
Comment by Kathleen — November 10, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
today is my dgtr’s 4th birthday…. what a wonderful reminder of how fast this time goes and to stop and smell and listen to each moment.
i am wiping my tears now,
thank you 🙂
Comment by Bonnie — November 10, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
Hanging on to the Cheerios for dear life!
Comment by Mama Zen — November 10, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
The Cheerios may come and go but the love stays forever.
Comment by Shalet — November 10, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
I know this post is old. I am amazed I came across it. My son, recently 8, eats cheerios all the time, they are everywhere, car, carpet, etc.
Once in the car,
he said mama you have to have this
no I said, I dont like Cheerios
But mama you really have to have this
No thank you I said, I dont like them
but mama this one is really special, it has a heart in the middle, and you must have it, because I love you so much.
I didnt eat it. I saved it, covered it with silver and wear it around my neck, always.
Comment by DeAnne — May 11, 2011 @ 6:01 am