A Rare Day

I didn’t drive myself crazy today running around trying to accomplish 50 different things at once.   There were no extracurricular activities to take the kids to and I didn’t have any appointments.  I cooked dinner last night so there was no menu to plan out, and no recipe to prepare.    The house was a mess and there was a huge pile of clothes waiting to be folded but instead of worrying myself about these things, I decided to neglect them for a task far more important; playing with the girls.

Instead of coming in from work, dropping my bags on the kitchen counter, rolling up my sleeves and preparing to run from one task to another until the time came and went for me to go to bed, I gave my daughters extra kisses, lots of hugs, and my much needed undivided attention.

This is rare considering there are always bills to be paid, floors to be mopped, hair to be combed, dinner to be prepared and all the other myriad of tasks occupying my time from one day to the next.  I barely stop to breathe and normally the kids fall victim to not enough hours in a day.

When they get older and reflect back on the days of their youth, they won’t remember so much how clean the kitchen floor was kept or how often the clothes were kept from piling up on the dryer, but they’ll remember all the times we rolled on the floor and laughed until our stomachs hurt and how when I read them bedtime stories, I disguised my voice to what I thought the characters sounded like in the book.

So today, as I walked in from work I ignored the disheveled state of the house, walked past the clothes piled on top of the dryer and took Nessa, Livi and Sa’Rae for a walk around the neighborhood, picked up some kids along the way, returned home and sat outside until it was time to feed them dinner.  I actually got the chance to sit down and read a book with them, fumble over letters and sounds with Nessa and talk to Rae and her friends about crushes, anger issues and drama among friends.

Instead of beating myself up over all the things I failed to accomplish, or running around like a chicken with her head cut off, I allowed myself some grace realized all those unfinished tasks would still be there tomorrow and enjoyed the gifts God has given me-my children.  I enjoyed my time with them and didn’t allow the thoughts of life to cloud the joy of living it.

While tomorrow might be completely different and most likely I’ll be back to running around half baked, I realize these days are precious and they are to be cherished because these are the days they will remember most.