Have you ever wondered about what you will miss the most once the little ones are all grown up and this life becomes a thing of the past? Are they the cuddles, the days out at the beach or the family games nights? Mine are all of the above but there are more...
When I will be up at night waiting for them to return back home safely from a night out with friends , I will be longing for all those times I was up because it was time for a feed, they had a bad dream or just wanted a cuddle.
When our schedules will be so hectic and mismatched that we need to slot in a family dinner into our calendar, I will miss all the noisy meals and sticky floors which needed to be washed before I went to bed every night. I will miss all the days spent in the kitchen cooking and washing the dishes ( I am not a big fan of this you see) and all the times they wanted to help but had flour thrown all over the floor as a result of this.
When they are too busy and preoccupied with their studies and stay locked in their rooms all day long, I will long for the countless "mummy play with me" or the constant hands pulling on my clothes and the never ending chatter whilst I am trying to get other things done. I will miss all the clutter and toys strewn around the house which were signs that I was never alone.
When I am no longer their world but their friends and other significant others are, I will long for those little feet following me wherever I go even if its just a trip to the bathroom. I will long for all those early mornings where I am dragged out of bed to start playing or making a craft whilst half the country is still cosy in bed. I would long for all those times you would not allow anyone to help you unless it was me. I would long for all those times they told me they want to be stuck to me forever.
When I will be the one to go to bed first, I will long for all those precious bedtimes I had to take care of even when I was too tired to do so and didn't really feel like doing. I will long for them asking for that extra story and for me to lay down next to them until they drift off to sleep.
When the house is too quiet, I will long for all the noise, all the yelling, all the bickering... or wait ... maybe not. I think I will be fine with this :)
And when the time comes for me to walk into their rooms to see their neat beds which have not been slept in for days, I will long for all those days we had together... the good days.. but also the bad ones, the messy ones, the burnt out ones, all the overwhelm, the days where I counted the seconds to bedtime... you get me. I will long for everything we had and experienced together even if it wasn't always oh so happy.
My friends you know what they say; The days are long but the years are short. I doubt that all this will help us readily accept more these hard moments right now... but I know that when the time comes for them to leave our home, I will miss these moments badly. The present is all we have and I intend to make each day count as best I can. So today ask me for that extra bedtime story, wake me up at night for that extra cuddle, hold that family meeting in the bathroom whilst I take a shower, feed the floor during dinner time.. because all that means that you are here with me and that is all that counts.
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