Content

 At days end the mother of the house, exhausted from carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, wiggles her fussy babe into the sling so she can hold her close. Together they sway in front of a sunlit window while soft music plays in the background and cookies bake in the oven. When the timer rings the weary mother makes her way to the kitchen to take the warm cookies from the oven. She smiles as she notices that the children have  already eaten the last pan and have cleared a spot on the cooling rack. A chubby toddler hand reaches past her and snatches the last cool cookie just as she replaces it with a warm one. And though she is burdened, she is content, because her children are happy, healthy and thriving and she is able to make her home a place of refuge and safety from the cares and concerns of the world.