Enjoy These Days, They Go By So Fast!

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. ~Art Buchwald

 I feel like I am living the days that old women at the grocery store warn me about; the ones that you better enjoy because "they go by so fast".  However, I feel fortunate to recognize that I have entered this season of my life. There are many books on what to do the first years of a child's life; what to feed them, how to dress them, where to take them, what to look for if they are sick. Then, something peculiar happens; those days approach, and time is set to fast forward.

Nobody mentions that some days you won't be able to remember what you did the day before, or that when kids get older you often meet yourself coming back from running them here and there. I remember when my kids were mostly babies, I would think to myself, "I'm never gonna be one of those ultra busy moms who are always rushing kids off here and there and can never keep her house clean." Hahahahahaha! old self you were so naive!

One thing, I've gotten out of my Happiness Project's goals for March (focusing on loving my children), is that it doesn't matter if you are busy. It doesn't matter if the most intimate time you spend with your kids is when you are all in the car together driving to the next destination. The only thing that matters is that in those moments you are in those moments. No that wasn't a typo of duplication, it was an emphasis on living in the here and now.

The most crucial thing I did this month was type my post of March's goals. The simple act of putting it down into a tangible, readable format has profoundly changed my interactions with my kids. I don't have a check and balance system to make sure I am following my goals, but just making them has set the ball in motion. I find myself not thinking anymore about what's next, or what about the past; but rather enjoying the present moment. Whatever that moment presents! If I am at Hunter's baseball practice, you won't find me anymore texting, or checking Facebook on my phone. I'm going to cheer him on, visit with the other parents, and enjoy that I get to sit and hold one (sometimes two or three) of my other kids. If I am at scouts, I will be involved, heart and soul. If I'm driving in the car, I'm going to be having the conversations I don't get to have when we are busy doing other things.

This, I believe, is the key to having no regrets when these days are the bygone days. I may look back and say to my kids' generation, "Enjoy these days, they go by so fast!"; but I will also add with a wink, "I did."

Love to all,

Gina