Today I had a moment. You know those moments, where you find yourself in awe of the miracles in your life? The ones that catch your breath when you least expect it? It snuck up on me. We are blissfully busy with recitals, end of year plays, ceremonies and sports games. There are multiple field trips and parties and gifts to be given to all the amazing people that helped my children grow through the year. May is just that way. The house is a mess, the loads of laundry are in a pile fermenting in the basement, and I am tired. Very tired. A good tired. But tired.
After a day at the park with my son’s kindergarten class, I planned to get my kids fed, unpacked from school, and off to the gym for my friend’s awesome ZUMBA class. But my body kept twitching that familiar “I’m breaking down” twitch, and I battled between how much I could push it and how much I should rest it. Today I had a choice. The gym was optional. Most often, we mothers do NOT have a choice to rest. Our children demand that we “push it” and we always come through. This time I got to choose. I chose rest. Tonight was the first night in weeks we had nowhere to race off to in a hurry. I decided that we all needed to just stay home.
So as the kids ran around the yard and I watered the freshly planted flowers, we cranked up the cd player and Adele’s voice echoed through the wind. After spraying my kids with the hose, I sat to rest for just a moment- thinking of the laundry, the dust, the dirty floors, the piles of school papers and the dinner that needed to be cooked.
My son came over soaking wet to climb onto my lap and snuggle for warmth in the sun. As I held him and rocked to the music, I looked at my daughter anticipating her jumping to fight for her place on my lap. But instead I saw her swinging high with one hand holding the rope and the other clearly forming a microphone held up to her lips as she sang with a passion only a pretend broken-hearted 9-year old soul could sing. Her eyes closed tight while feeling every pulsating beat of the love song. She was in another imaginary world. I remember when I would do that as a child, well into my teens. I would sing to my record albums and 45’s for hours at a time in our basement, even into my college dorm room years. Some songs I would listen to over and over again, as I could never get enough. I loved watching her. I loved to see that same passion.
As my son squeezed me tighter and my daughter sang louder, the sun beat down on my face and my drenched hot body absorbed the joy. And then it hit me. I went into that out of body perspective, when you look from above down at the picture of your own life…
And I saw a mother holding her precious son, watching her other growing girl nearby singing from her soul and swinging in the wind. There we were. Enjoying this free moment in our beautiful big yard, outside our lovely home, with nothing but amazing blessings behind us, and a wonderful future ahead of us. The love of my life will be home soon from a good job that God handed him through a close friend. After the soccer games and recitals, the plays and the field trips…we have one evening to rest, before moving on to t-ball games, end of year parties and ceremonies and graduations. As I sat in the sun holding my sun-soaked child, rocking, and singing Adele on a warm spring day, I realized once again, how good life really is.
I anticipated my son squirming off of me within a minute to go play, but he didn’t. We stayed morphed together for some time rocking and singing. My daughter kept performing, as I would open my eyes every once in a while to watch her. During this perfect moment of time, I thought about my friend who doesn’t get to see her kids every day due to her divorce. I remembered another mom I saw in a wheelchair at the recital who has been bedridden for months with a mysterious debilitating disease. I realized another dear friend would soon be leaving her infant to go back to work. I grieved all over again about another precious friend who lost her baby. I lifted up a quiet prayer for them all and then focused back to my big picture moment.
I am so blessed.
Friends, may we all have more moments like this.
Thanks again for the reminder that every day with our children is a blessing from above. It’s these moments that you describe here that make all the crazy running around days SO worth being a mother!!
EXACTLY!!!!! And it’s not the “big moments” you think of that would knock your socks off…it’s the small moments where it really hits you- Thanks sooo much for your comment and for reading!!!!
Another tremendously touching and moving entry! Love to read your stories! They feel like snuggling under a warm blanket. You are indeed blessed!
Oh how I love your encouragement!!! I am sooo glad you appreciate my words, stories, and all that I share. Thank you so much Marcia- for reading them!!!!
youaresoblessed lol what does lol mean? I really lol this piece with the true blessings of life
What does lol mean? Really? Hmm….. apparently lots of love to you!!! You got me even confused!
What a beautiful moment indeed!! The magic is catching these moments throughout every day and slowing down enough to do so more often! My prayer is that us busy moms focus less on ‘tasks’ during these all too brief years and more on those moments….
Well said dear sis, SO well said! Time flies and all of a sudden another year has gone by and you have raced through every turn without embracing more of these moments… I am trying to do more “moments” in my life- it’s hard not to function through those crazy days though!
Your vivid words describe the day and moment perfectly. Enjoy those precious times. Kids grow up so fast – too fast – and we all need to close our eyes and sing like we are so lost in the moment – and we don’t care who’s watching. I, too, rocked in my orange suede chair for hours on end – listening to Olivia Newton John sing her songs from Grease. And, of course, I became her… a star… I wish my grown girls could stop in the hurried young adult lives they’re in right now and just sing from their souls. Ah… the joy of the tender moments with young dreamy children!!! We could all learn from their tender spirits…
Oh how I remember the sound of your chair rocking for hours next to my bedroom….with the music going over and over again! What a BEAUTIFUL comment. So grateful you read this article and commented!!!
Lovely.:)
Yes. Perfect word for that moment! It was quite lovely…
This is so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. And I love that in your moment of bliss you were able to lift up those friends who were less fortunate than you. Bless you.
Thanks so much sweet friend! I am always mindful of all those precious people in my life who are suffering for one reason or another. Oh how blessed I am!! (BTW- I LOVE MY SUNGLASSES!!!!! xoxo)
Love, love, love, LOVE this post!
Thank you SO much Alexa!!! I know you have had moments like these… we all have. 🙂 I absolutely LOVE your support more than you will ever know! (Now if only babble would fix the FB like voting button on my post! GAH!)
I love this post! Such a beautiful thing when we stop and appreciate/realize our blessings… I submitted my vote on Babble! 🙂
OH thank you SO much Carin!!! I am so so grateful for you. 🙂
BTW- my fb like button on babble’s site to vote seems to have disappeared… Can I ask how you submitted the vote? I have people asking and I have NO idea how to do it without the fb like button! Gah! Thanks SO much!!
I love this post. It is so gorgeous and so true. I can just feel how you felt in the yard that day, giving thanks for all of God’s blessings and soaking up the sweetness of your kids. Your words captured the moment perfectly, Chris! BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks SO much sweet dear friend!!!! I can’t believe that was LAST spring… and I can still picture every detail of that early evening. There are so many moments we need to capture in our hearts and embrace. This was just simply one of them. 🙂
This is such a beautiful post. That moment, unforced, when you’re present enough to realize, absorb and bask in your blessings. Beautiful, beautiful post.
Thank you so much Hope!!! I remember it like it was yesterday. I love those moments… we need to realize more of them! They are oftentimes missed in the busy hectic life we lead. We need to make sure we are present enough to embrace them, don’t we?! Xoxo…
This is IT- and recognizing, and being able to feel it, is a work, a strength and a gift. Beautiful!
Oh Maggie- you summed it up perfectly! Thank you so much for blessing me today with your words and encouragement. 🙂
Oh Christine how you captured these moments with the utter beauty of your writing. I felt loje I wss watching a Hallmark commercial..all with yhe soft filter a raysvof sunlight beaming off the lens! I smile at your darling daughter..how so many of us dreamed of being famous singers..and how special were those moments we could pretend with imaginary microphones! I love how you observed her like you did..and I could feel your little boy close to you..oh what comfort! Bless these moments!! You blessed my morning with your story!
Oh Kathy, how your response just fills me with so much goodness. Thank you for celebrating the details of my writing and my beautiful moment with me, dear friend. Your words always encourage me so much. I’m so grateful for them, and for you. <3
Beautiful! It really is the small moments that have the biggest impact. I’m glad that you took the chance to rest and soak them up. It’s totally worth it.
It IS totally worth it. Sometimes they catch us off guard. Those are my favorite ones of all. 🙂