You know that sound at the end of the day – when all the dishes are done (or sitting in the sink), laundry put away (i.e. safely on the couch designated for laundry), and the kids are sound asleep – the sweet sound…of nothing? You can put on your noise-canceling headphones and not have anxious thoughts that you won’t hear your 2-year-old break a glass plate or your 6-year-old jump off the dining room table and break his arm (Am I alone here? I really hope not).
You can just lay there and BE.
No one is calling your name, you can read, catch up with a friend uninterrupted, watch TV, and have a quiet dinner – the possibilities seem endless after bedtime. That’s why we stay up all night instead of sleeping when we just cried to our closest friends earlier in the day that we are beyond exhausted and just want to sleep.
The constant rush of getting kids back and forth to school, co-op, sports practice, music lessons, tutoring, birthday parties, extended family obligations, planning special events for our kids… it is nonstop. Whether you have one kid or 10, whether you live in the middle of the city or live on 20 acres an hour from downtown, as moms, we are always moving. There is always something that needs to be done, someone who has somewhere to be, or someone who needs us to tend to their heart.
My oldest child is counting down to her first birthday in double digits. As excited as I am that I have a big kid around, the sobering reminder is that I do not have much nonstop time with her left. As fast as this first decade of her life has flown by, I’m going to blink again and we will all be 10 years older and I will have an adult child. When I remember that, it is a call to slow down, look my children in the eye and enjoy the moment. It’s not just for them – it’s for me.
One day my house will be spotless. One day, there will no longer be frequent marathons of running around town to multiple events. My calendar won’t be full because I am managing the lives of seven people. One day, I’ll be fully rested because I slept the entire night. But today is not that day, and I am embracing the chaos.
