Hello blogger friends!!
Life can be so busy, sometimes. Actually, life is busy ALL of the time, it just gets overwhelming SOME of the time. May was a crazy month. The end of the school year seems to be the most hectic time for me. There are just so many end-of-the-year meetings, parties, etc. to attend that before I know it, a whole month has passed by and I'm sitting down to catch my breath, realizing that I haven't had a single moment of rest.
I take a deep breath, relax, and say, "Thank God for summer break!!"
I always make plans to do lots of fun activities with the kids over summer break. Plus, there are tons of summer camps that they want to attend. It can easily turn into another hectic season if I'm not careful.
I just got home from driving Sarah, my 5 year-old, to gymnastics camp. Clay went down for a nap and I found a window of opportunity to blog for the first time in over a month. Wow, time flies!
As I sit here trying to think of what to write about, I realize that the message I plan to share with you is a message for myself, too: a reminder to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the "small stuff" in life. It is so easy to get so wrapped up in the details of planning activities, attending events and being preoccupied with all that needs to be done that life seems to speed by until we stop one day and say, "What happened? Where did all of that time go?"
Just the other day, I was talking with a friend about how much I wanted to get a job this Fall. I have been a stay-at-home mom for 7 years. I guess I could call what I have the "7-year itch." My oldest child will be 14 in September and my youngest will turn 2 in September. I look at Morgan, my 13 year-old and can't believe she's almost grown. Then, I look at Clay, the baby, and realize how quickly he will grow up. My friend's oldest son just graduated high school. Her other son will graduate in a few years and her youngest child is the same age as Morgan. As we talked about how quickly the season of motherhood has gone by for her, she reminded me to cherish every moment of it because it will be gone so fast. It sounds so cliche', but there is more truth to it than we know.
If you are like me, still raising toddlers, you can relate to how it feels like the days are just a big blur of exhaustion, cleaning up after little ones and never getting a moment to yourself. In those moments, it can be challenging to "cherish" anything. I even find myself wishing that the time would go by faster. I get to the point of near-insanity, sometimes, because I just want to take a shower by myself! A friend of mine told a story, one time, about how she had to go to the restroom in the dark just to hide from her son so she could go potty alone. How do we cherish that?
A group of my friends went out to celebrate my friend Stephanie's 30th birthday, this week. After we sat down to eat, I realized that we kept talking about our kids. I made a rule that we couldn't talk about our kids for the rest of the night. Then, we took turns going around the table, talking about ourselves and asking each other questions. Within minutes, EVERY one of us had talked about our kids, again, at least once! We thought, "Where did our identities go? What did we talk about BEFORE having kids?"
Being a mommy becomes so much a part of who we are that we can't even separate ourselves from it. Those little babies come into our lives and impress upon our hearts in a way that no other person has ever been able to do. Then, when life is so crazy with making all kinds of plans, it's hard to stop and be thankful for how wonderful motherhood really is. But when I talk to the moms who just had a child graduate or just said "goodbye" to the baby of the family, it makes me more aware of how thankful I really am for every one of my 4 children. I enjoy making plans for them. I enjoy all of their little personalities and how different they are from one another. I enjoy cuddling with my son in the morning while I drink my coffee and we watch "Sesame Street." What I realize is that I am cherishing the small stuff!
Before we know it, we will be the seasoned moms who are telling the young moms to cherish every moment because it goes by so quickly. We don't always realize it in the moment, but our children have changed us for the better. Because of their presence in our lives, we have learned to put someone else's needs above our own. We have allowed someone else to take up a very special space in our hearts. Most importantly, we will never go back to who we once were because who we are now is better than we ever would have been without them.
Cherish every moment. Life really does go by fast! One day, you will miss this hectic season. It will only be a precious memory.
