Have you ever loved your child so much it’s almost unbearable?

I had a child about 10 years later in life than most mothers did.  In fact, I didn’t think I’d be able to have a child at all.  So when we found out I was pregnant with our son, I was over the moon.  I had recently suffered a devastating miscarriage, and the fact that I had been gifted with yet another pregnancy filled me gratitude, hope and fear that I might lose this one, too.

I have spent most of the past 4 1/2 years looking at my beautiful son with awe, wonder and disbelief.  How is it that someone this sweet and wonderful (with all of the cranky, low-blood sugar attributes, too) came into my life to allow me to raise, cherish and nourish him?  How did I ever get so lucky?  I look at my beautiful child sitting in his chair at breakfast time, eating his oatmeal and making silly faces to make me laugh, and I can hardly get over the wonder of the moment.  The sweetness.  And the reality that life is so very precarious.

Some months ago there was an article in the Huffington post about the on-going devastation of our oceans, which, if not curtailed, will cause a mass extinction of sea life in the upcoming years.  Ecology being what it is, a mass extinction of sea life equals the eventual mass extinction of human life on the planet.  How can I love my son with all of my heart, hope for his future, and hold the truth about the declining state of our life-giving planet at the same time? 

How do we hold the duality of these things?  How do we keep loving and hoping in the face of terrible environmental news?  How can we mothers (and fathers, and anyone who loves children) go on in the face of this reality? How do we keep our spirits up in spite of everything, and teach our children a better way of living that might really make a real difference for their future?

How do you do it?  Do you believe we can make a difference?