My first blog
It strikes me that I, as a 31-year-old woman, don’t have many firsts ahead of me … at least not pleasant ones. But today, I participate in my first blog, the first time I open up my ruminations to the critiques of other ruminators. What’s funny about it is that so many of my blogging thoughts are likely to be focused around the enjoyment of all the firsts that are achieved by my children.
On Saturday we celebrated a fifth birthday at Casa Jonsson. Our son won’t actually be five until Wednesday, but in his mind, once the candles are blown, it’s official. Why blow it for him?
Then Sunday, we celebrated my mother’s 59th. Due to a set of very unpleasant circumstances involving my 1990 180K-mile Honda, a thermostat and a transmission, I was left without transportation during the last part of the week. So I wasn’t able to go shopping for the “perfect” gift for my mom. So at dinner, I thought we could give her the gift of our words and tell her why we love her so much. I started, and gave a few (I thought) eloquent words. I then turned to my very, very mature and big (almost) five-year-old son, and asked him to reflect on the reasons he loved his grandmother.
“Because she does things for me.”
“Like what?”
“I can’t remember.”
OK. Well, that didn’t go so well. But he is my projects- not people-driven child, so I thought I’d turn to my younger but totally people-savvy three-year-old for an answer. “Do you love Mami Betty?”
“Yes.”
“A little, or a lot?”
“A lot!!!”
“Why?”
Very long pause, furrowed eyebrows, then finally the answer: (drumroll) … “I don’t know.”
I was disappointed at first, but then I realized such is the nature of love. It is sometimes an inscrutable emotion. We know we feel it, but we can’t quite get our hands around it. Any attempt at trying to explain it is futile, it seems. Many times, I find myself trying to tell Nils why I love him, and finding that the words sound trite and hollow, yet the heart behind those words is overflowing. Maybe sometimes we should just admit we don’t know why … but we love.
Or maybe I should say, more accurately, that it isn’t the why that is the problem, but explaining it any other way than Scripture does just doesn’t quite explain it: “We love because He first loved us.” 
Woohoo! Now I’m not the only one doing this!
Welcome to the blogosphere, Araceli. It seems there are two good writers in the Jonsson family, not that I’m surprised …… I like this post a lot. I also, likewise, find that my mind goes first to children when considering what to write about. How could it be otherwise? Though the fact used to bother me, now I realize what I great record it could prove for us all later, and want to do more. That’s surely true of what you have here. Join us sometime at Tasty Tacos—we need more chicks over there!