Anyone who knows me will tell you......I'm a planner. No, no, not that type of planner; I am THAT type of planner. The one who use to go back to days in her daily planner and add things that I did 2 days before if I somehow (not likely) forgot them.
As one of my favorite verses states "Children are a gift from God. They are His reward.".....His gift in children is so many fold; but one of the truest blessings for me was not just the unconditional love that I felt for the 2 I was given; but rather the realization that my time is no longer my own. As any new parent can tell you, once you have a child.....forget doing anything on your time or on your terms for at least.....oh........seven or eight years when they are all so vastly involved in afterschool activities......yep, I did it.....I digrest!
So back to it....time not your own; so you might as well hang up being a planner. And for all intents and purposes, I have gotten a LOT better I have a BlackBerry now; so I update my work calendar with only the necessities; i.e. work and personal appointments, such as doctors and teacher conferences. But I haven't gone back to old habits of scheduling every 5 minutes of my day and weekends in advance months in advance for YEARS!!!!! At least 5 1/2 since that is the age of my oldest. So, the good thing is that I am reminded by a simple buzz of where I HAVE to be and if I am late, don't fall apart like I use to.
My kids have allowed me the luxury of preserving time by making the most of it in the increments in which it is given to us........or so I thought, for the most part. Until I realized that my oldest is just like me......the consummate planner!
At 5 1/2, how do I know this? Well, she has the anticipation and excitement level of at least three 5 1/2 year olds; not just one. It's not enough that she could be playing with her 2 best friends in the world and having a blast; nope......inevitably she will ask......"Mommy, when is the next time I am going to see my friends? " or "How about we go ahead and ask their mommies if we can go to this place with them the next time I see them"
She has my curse of forward thinking; i.e. planning too much for your own good. Worrying about what is going to happen next or what she might miss next instead of savoring the moment at hand. Do I really think she understands this? HEAVENS NO!!!!!!! She is 5 1/2 and she is just excited!!! But to hear her, it is re-teaching me the life lesson that I thought I had mastered when I became a mom.........cherish the moments.......they go oh so fast!
How many times did we as newborn mommies hear those words? Take it all in; and don't miss a moment; it goes by so fast. Well, I for one, got sick of hearing it because the advice was given inevitably by the woman who then said "my youngest is in college now and I can remember when she was a baby.....it was so long ago" My thought at the time......of course it was.....she is in college now!
But it's SO true!!!! The past 5 1/2 years of my life and the life of my family has flown by in an instant. Thank God I have pictures to document it all as photography is a passion; but pictures can tell a story; but they don't always capture the emotion. That's where we need to slow down; relish in the moment and soak in the emotion.
As I keep telling my oldest; just focus on being 5 right now; it's awesome and you won't ever be 5 again; I must tell myself the same......focus on being a 35 year old mother of 2; and whatever the future holds (even tomorrow) well, it's God's plan and it's in His hands; so for now, my only task is to remember the smells of my daughters' heads from tonight as I snuggled with them both before they went to sleep. I will be in that same place tomorrow, God willing, but it will be a different type of snuggle; so I will think only now of the Sunday night snuggle and drift off with memories of how wonderful this weekend was.
Here's hoping that you remember to stop and slow down; the World waits for no one; so step on the brakes and realize that if you are relishing in the present; you aren't missing anything yet!
Signing off!
K2
No comments:
Post a Comment