From Friday Mom – Erin:
As our heads hit the pillows last Sunday night after a long weekend of traveling to visit with our extended family, my husband whispered about what a wonderful time he had had watching me play on the expansive lawn of our rental home with Rory and his cousins. The boys had spent hours of their mornings, afternoons, and evenings running themselves ragged up and down the field, hiking up the neighboring hillside, and gazing into the cool blue mist of trout-filled mountain ponds. Rory giggled, cried, tried to flee, and snuggled close to family.
“It is in watching those moments that you realize that all of this is so fleeting,” he said. “And you want to do everything you can to soak it all in.”
My voice quivered as I choked back a silent tear.
“Yeah,” I responded. “I know.”
In the constant quest to “be a good parent,” I often find myself not entirely focused on the present and focused, instead, on next steps – whether large, like looking out for the next developmental milestone, waiting for single words to become longer phrases, and hoping for signs of potty training readiness. Or small, like waiting desperately for bedtime on the trying days, or crossing my fingers that he agrees to give up his pacifier before heading out the door to school. I am guilty of viewing at least a portion of my role as a mother as being a chief logistician. Is the laundry clean? Are the lunches packed? Do we have enough diapers? Have I purchased groceries? Did I return the picture order form to school? Is he running out of diaper cream/shampoo/lotion/wipes/etc. The to-do lists and questions can be distracting and all-consuming.
But every once in a while we pause and allow ourselves to take in the joy and excitement with the world through the eyes of our young children. We look with glee upon the tinge of red on the maple leaves dotting the lawn, run at full tilt between rows of apple trees, and collapse at the end of it all in an exhausted, contented sleep. We can take pictures, shoot video, and do everything we can to try to document such moments. But try as we might, they shall remain fleeting.
So, in those blissful moments, such as those spent surrounded by family last weekend, we must remind ourselves that our time is best spent being entirely present and focused on the here and now. Because those moments will be gone before you know it.