The crickets are out and singing long before the sun goes down. The air is still hot and sticky, and while the kids are already tucked in for the night, I slip away to our yard.
The plastic Adirondack chairs my husband said I’d never use have become my favorite spot to retreat to after a long day. I wanted the expensive comfortable wood ones with the matching foot rest. He said, “Try these first, see if you actually use it.”
Two years later and I’d say it’s time for the real deal.
The bedtime ritual was longer than usual tonight, the girls are overtired from vacation. The last few days of school normally deemed fun have become a burden, and they decided to scream about it over and over and over. Finally I laid with them, sang softly, and scratched their little backs and arms until they relented and let sleep come.
But still I have my spot.
The one place in the world that seems made just for me. The perfect place to view the changing colors of the sky, watch the soft ripples of the water, listen to the leftover raindrops from the afternoon storm still dripping from the gutter, and just be.
Can you feel it? Summer is almost here. You know what that means? Later mornings, easier and more causal days, and more daylight to soak in the sights and sounds of the new season.
The days seem to be flying by. My husband mistook my seven year old’s shirt for mine today, hanging it in my closet. A simple mistake, yet a poignant one to me. She’s growing faster than I could ever imagine, talking already about birthday number eight next year. The baby almost five. I want time to stop so bad it drives me to tears some nights. Why can’t we keep them little forever? The sweet voices, the innocence of learning new words, the kindness and compassion not yet corrupted by society and social media.
My view, in my spot, where I savor the stolen MOM-ents.
I never knew how important each season was until becoming a mother. Holidays are so much more festive, and traditions being made each day. We are not only inspiring and shaping their futures, but creating their memories as well.
They all said, “Enjoy it – it goes fast.” I didn’t understand what they meant until now, and they were right. It’s literally flying by, and I’m praying I remember everything. The smell of their freshly washed hair after a bath. The softness of their baby skin. Their voices before they became a little lower and scratchier. Their toothless smiles and the feeling of their tiny hands intertwined in mine.
Now is the time to savor every single second. The big ones sure, but more importantly these stolen moments in between. The ones where we think about nothing. Just feel the warm summer breeze on our face, melting into the sunset, and letting go of the day’s challenges. Thanking God for our children, our homes, our lives, and our view. And knowing we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
In our spot.
Absolutely beautiful and trying my best this summer and beyond to do just this!! 🙂
me too!
My spot is at the kitchen table right next to the kitchen’s bay window. I also take quiet time by going outside and cleaning the pool in the morning. I need quiet to reset,
I can totally relate to this… it is going by SO fast! Why does it make me sad??? I know the whole point of it all is for them to grow up, but MAN life is speeding by!
A good chair with a book for me.
It’s funny because Cassidy has done the same thing – mixed up my clothes with Scarlet’s. It does make me think we both favor a lot of loud colors! She’s tiny, though. You can’t always tell from photos. Smallest kid in first grade. WAY smaller than me!
Anyway, this was beautiful.
As I have just passed on the last of the baby clothes to a friend and realised those times are gone we have been reflecting too, all the precious moments of babies are finished and as we have more new precious memories to come soon they will be off living their own lives. We are making a conscious effort to put down our phones and spend more engaging time with our kids because as you say it goes so fast. Thank you for reminding me of all those precious memories, smells and feelings. 🙂
I have a chair just like that and last night I sat out it in it with my feet in the kiddie pool and listened to the coyotes howling. In those reflective moments we do see just how fast it is all going by. The baby years seem forever and then they are not. The summers last forever and then they don’t. My mom recently told me that 82 years happened almost over night. So yes mam, enjoy it along the journey, because 82 will be here faster than we imagine.
I feel the tick-tock of the clock more than I ever have now. It makes me think of holding water in the palm of my hand because the tighter I hold on the more it seems to leak out between my fingers.
It goes too fast.
so true. i like the comment jack left. i’ll share this later!
I love this piece so much!!! It scares me just how fast the time goes by. My oldest will be a senior next year and my baby will be starting middle school. I really did just blink. You write about the sweet times so beautifully. Thanks!!
Thank you – it’s going so fast I sat and cuddled with them the past few nights instead of working. My soul is happy.
Oh, no. I just got so choked up reading about remembering their little hands! Our oldest will be 7 this summer, and I’ve been noticing that her clothes are getting too big for the kid hangers. How can that be? I hope you get the opportunity to cherish as many moments as possible this summer and each day after.
great post. i will Definitally bookmark this
I spend time with my garden after sunset when the bugs are gone and the heat has subsided a bit. This is so important to remember to just breathe. My husband has also mistaken my 7-year old daughter’s clothes for mine and it made me cry. On one hand you’d love to stop time but on the other it’s so amazing to see the growth and adventures taking place. I love my journal so I can record some of these sweet little moments. Not enough of them. But some. Thank you so much for the reminder.
Sounds like heaven!!
Also – my hubs is convinced I won’t use the adirondack chairs I want. I’m pretty sure I will…