A Note from Karen Keim

This month at Keim we’re celebrating all the ladies who touch the lives of younger generations, nurturing them, teaching them, helping them to adulthood.   

Every year on Mother’s Day I claim the right to have a picture taken with my kids. It is special for me to look back and see their growth from year to year. Recently, I went outside to take pictures of my daughter before a formal school event. She got on the swing and pumped her legs to swing through the air just as she did as a child. I can still hear, “Under duck, Mommy! Higher, Higher!” Oh, the many stories our Swing-N-Slide playground could tell of our children, their cousins, and their friends playing happily. Many years later, it’s still a blessing! 

The playground was the result a family workday. My whole family traveled from out of state to our home in Charm, for a weekend. Everyone contributed their skills and labor to work together on the project. We could have hired someone to do it for us, but instead, we were able to make memories of three generations working together.   

For many years, those family workdays were a family tradition. A different family taking a turn each year, having an opportunity to tackle a home project that would otherwise be overwhelming or costly. Each of us left the weekend with a completed project that regularly reminds us of the blessing of doing it as a family. 

There is something about watching children playing contentedly that warms my heart. The smiles on their faces and the sound of gleeful giggles and squeals as they swing and slide.  Now I am not going to lie, I never loved the sand my children would drag into the house from the sandbox. Yet as I watched their joy and creativity as they dug in the sand, it was worth the inconvenience and grit.   

After my older children were in school and my son was the only one at home during the day, the sandbox became his favorite place to spend time.  It was even a place he could play when it was raining because the sandbox was covered by a slide. Our playground provided hours and hours of fun, even for me on the days the child hiding inside of me peaked out and played too. 

This Mother’s Day, I encourage you to relish the moments with your loved ones. Make memories with them. Whether you are celebrating the inspiring women in your life, or you are the one being celebrated, treasure the card, the phone call, the crumbs in your bed from the toast that your children made, the flowers, the meal, the nap.  They are special and so are you. 

From my home to yours,