see jane learn: Stella the Goose Shared Some Momma Tips

I love being a Momma, and I've learned mothering tips by watching others; my Mom, sisters, friends, mentors, even a goose! Recently I “met” a Goose Momma and observed that she and I have quite a bit in common as we raise our families…

Stella is a local goose who chose a whiskey flower barrel at our local Tides Tavern to build her nest and lay her eggs. She has been sitting faithfully on her eggs for quite some time and I’m happy to report that six little ones hatched on Cinco de Mayo! (Maybe the party atmosphere pushed her into labor…)

Stella stayed responsible even when she was tired, bored and wanted to go off and do her own thing. Stella chose a goose to marry and share the parenting role with, who would literally watch her back. (Mack, the male goose/Dad, could be seen sitting nearby on the dock, ready to scare off Otters or anyone else threatening his wife and children.)

Stella understands that her little ones are only going to be in her nest for a short period of time, so she needs to love and nurture them, and then allow them to go off and explore the world without her. (Do geese return home to visit their Mommas? I wonder...)

I too know that even though the young years seemed to stretch on, when I look back it was totally worth it. I too am married to an amazing man who provides and protects and is a great Father. I too have children who won’t be in my “nest” much longer. I am trying to stay strong as my last little one finishes her senior year and gets ready to leave the nest for college in the fall. My 20 year old son really is flying off far away; he is leaving for Hong Kong in two weeks for a summer internship, and then will spend the fall semester at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (JUFE) in Nanchang, China. My older daughter recently graduated from college and is making plans to move up to Seattle and get a job. My oldest son, (the one who turned this young, inexperienced wife into a mommy), is married, teaching, and living in Chicago.

I imagine Stella pondered what her little ones would be like, and if she’d hatch boys or girls. My four have some similar characteristics and yet are very unique. I couldn't have fathomed the amazing young women and men that my babies would grow up to become. “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”Ephesians 2:10

Stella the goose has two things going for her that I’m a bit envious of; she spends every day on the deck of my favorite local restaurant, and her nest won’t ever be cluttered with baby paraphernalia that years later morphs into piles of clothes, books, and stuff from a college boy returning from the dorm!