I am one of the first people to admit that I really get caught up in the fuss and bustle of life. While I’m definitely succumbing to a growing feeling that I want to simplify and slow things down in my world—life as a single mom of three has demanded that I stay pretty alert and try to make some plans for stability and future. Of course, those plans seldom pan out exactly as I’d like. But, with my youngest child approaching fifteen, and the oldest finishing up 11th grade—I know that my time with my current batch of children (I haven’t given up on the aching feeling that there is room for more children somehow, someday) is finite. I’m struggling to force myself to slow things down and try to enjoy each and every unpredictable day.
The fact is, the present isn’t always pleasant. Memories of bygone days, or fantasies of what the future might look like can be much prettier and less gritty than the realities of what can go down in a family in the midst of the grind of every day. My active imagination often prefers to remember my kids as adorable toddlers (although I remember too that toddler-hood had its challenges) or wonder what sort of stellar, amazing adults they are going to be. But, if I let myself get stuck in my imagination, I can miss the amazing realities of the little daily moments. If I let myself experience the present fully, it can be pretty darn satisfying and have all sorts of morsels and tidbits of lessons for me. Not to mention, my staying present creates new memories for me to look, yearning and appreciative, back towards when my children really are grown-up and off in their own worlds and new families.
Yes, the present has a lot of gifts (no pun intended) and I just need to take off my hard-driving, stretched-to-the-limits single mom hat for a moment and sink into the wonders of where things are, who we all are, in our family scene today.
See Also: What I Love About Parenting Teenagers and Creating Childhood Memories