Here’s what’s on my mind…
Kids are only little for a little bit, you know? Days go by so quickly that before we know it they’ve turned into weeks.
I wrote this post, intended to edit it the same evening, and somehow that was already 2 weeks ago. So I scratched it all and started fresh. I’m grateful that there are opportunities where we can do that. Start fresh. Praise Jesus for this gift.
A couple weekends ago we watched our town’s parade, walked around the courthouse square eating things like ice cream, mini donuts, and nachos (yes, we all suffered gut rot afterwards, and agreed it was well worth it).
For hours on end my girls blew bubbles in the driveway, giggling at the top of their lungs and having real conversations with each other, even though they’re ten years apart in age. My kids are all best friends, and that makes my momma heart so very happy.
In the evening my two favorite boys played catch with a football under the fireworks. They stopped occasionally to admire the really good ones and say things like “Sweet, did you see that?” and “Dude!”
There were colorful chalk scribbles all over the driveway.
What a perfect Saturday.
Then Sunday rolled around. We over slept and missed church, the radio feed we listen to the service from wasn’t working, and I began right away feeling guilty for all of the enjoying, relaxing, and savoring that I’d been doing the day before.
Why did we over sleep? I thought angrily. Well, of course in hindsight, it’s because we were 100% exhausted from enjoying all of the events that life had to offer on Saturday.
At one point on Sunday afternoon I requested that we do a quick cleaning of each room, nothing major, like 5-10 minutes per room to tidy up. It very quickly turned into the meltdown of all meltdowns from everyone.
I cursed the day and wanted to go back to bed. If only I could’ve been more disciplined in getting up early and getting everyone ready for the day. If only I had set my alarm, If only I had laid clothes out ahead, if only I had easy breakfasts prepared and ready to go.
I left each of the kids’ rooms frustrated with their attitudes, and my own for going from being so grateful, to so upset!
I cleaned our storage room instead, no one argued with that. I took deep breathes and kept pressing forward, because I knew that’s what I’d tell all of you to do when things are tough.
You know how we all snapped out of it?
I ordered pizza and we ate on Styrofoam plates.
Yep, that was it. There’s something about gathering around the table over food and doing something out of the ordinary, like using fake plates, that just cured everyone.
We topped our evening off with some tiny fireworks in the driveway, lots of hugs, and bundles of smiles.
It’s okay to fall apart, just be sure to put yourself back together again.
I’d even say it’s normal; not that I’m an authority on that or anything.
Friends,
I want you to savor the good moments. Please don’t fear them because you worry “something bad is going to happen if I enjoy this moment too much”.
Honestly, I know all about that feeling. And you know what I think? I think that feeling can just stuff it already!
As long as we are on this earth bad things are always going to happen. They just are. So let’s not avoid the good stuff, thinking we’ll somehow avoid the bad stuff too.
We can’t avoid the bad stuff.
We can change how we respond to the bad stuff though. So lets practice having hearts of gratitude and hearts that savor the good moments. That way when things don’t turn out how we plan, we can have those good memories to carry us through.
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