“Oh how I miss those days! It goes by so fast!”
“Enjoy it while they’re young, those are the best days.”
Like many mothers of little ones, I’ve heard my fair share of comments about how these seemingly long days of parenting my babies (when they’re actually still babies) will be swiftly gone before my eyes.
Sure those comments don’t help when I’m filled with mom guilt after (another) day of ‘survival’ in mothering my boys. But, in the last five years of motherhood, I’ve come to understand and actually appreciate their sentiment for these all too long days, yet all too short years.
Earlier tonight, as I was doing my weekly toilet cleaning in the boys’ bathroom, while my husband disinfected their humidifiers (for the millionth time this winter.) I had a moment. A brief moment of wondering, “will I really miss these days?
These days that I’m pumped up on three cups of (lukewarm) coffee and unable to remember if I ate lunch.
These days that I’m yelling half the day and picking up/cleaning up/cooking up something the other half.
These days when I’ve showered only twice in one week and can’t count how many days I’ve been wearing the same clothes.
These days when I can’t recall the last time I kissed my husband or enjoyed a meal just the two of us.
These days when everything seems to run on some sort of chaotic schedule all ending with the gleeful countdown to bedtime.
These days that seem long, but fly by all at the same time.
And it dawned on me for a second, as those moments of clarity tend to come and go in motherhood. There will soon be a day when our house won’t be filled with noise. No shrieks of laughter as the boys chase each other around. No whining cry from the baby wanting to be picked up. No yelling from my husband saying “don’t play by the stairs.” No nagging from me saying “go check on your baby brother.”
There will someday be a day when I long for these days of noise and chaos. These days when all they need or want (most of the time) is me.
The hard days will still be hard. I will yell (again.) I will countdown to bedtime (again). I will crave me time (again). But for today, the comments of those parents who came before me, serve as a reminder to know that even in the worst moments of raising my little boys, there’s a beauty to this short phase of motherhood. And for that I am grateful.
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Will I Really Miss These Days?
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