A Letter To My Fellow Mamas

Ya’ll…. it hit me like a ton of bricks today! I don’t know why and I honestly can’t say where it came from but SMACK DAB in the middle of nowhere it hit me: my baby isn’t a baby anymore!

Then, it hit me again! I went into my room to grab a tissue box and lying on the floor next to my bed was a colored in charazard picture that my son had “cleaned” up from this morning.

At first it annoyed me, let me just be real honest! I know we’ve all done this 100 times! We’ve picked up the markers and the crayons that scatter our floors. We’ve stepped on the legos that act like tiny torture devices on our feet! We’ve asked, no we’ve begged, our kiddos to clean this room or pick up and it falls on deaf ears! Some days, heck most days, it feels like we are on repeat! Momma does all the things and is down in the thick of it!

But today, as I stared at that lonely little orange charazard picture carelessly thrown on my bedroom floor, it struck me: how many more of these little love notes am I going to get?! Time just seems so fickle right? One minute we are living in the day to day; and then out of nowhere we see something and it reminds us just how fast time really does move.

Luckily I still have some time! Linc is 9 and although some days saying 9 feels so big to me! I mean gosh third grade feels big! I do realize that in the grand scheme of things, I still have time for little colored in pictures left on my bed. Thank Goodness! I’ll never look at pokemon the same!

But we are growing and time does move! One moment he wouldn’t leave me without a big hug or high five/secret handshake before school. And now, well, the look I get if I try so much as a kiss on the forehead! Whew ya’ll! If looks could kill.

Here’s the silver lining though my dear sweet mama friends: growth is good! I love growth because with it comes new and exciting “firsts”. Growth means new adventures and new magic!

I also know that thankfully I have a ton of images that I can fondly look back on! I have albums I have printed year after year to savor.

My biggest wish is that you do too!

This is why I make it my business to ensure that you are getting yourself in those photos. And not just IN the photos, but mama I want to see you DO something with those images!

Put those precious memories in an album! This way anyone can revisit those times over and over again anytime they like or anytime they need.

Print your images so you can fill your home with the people who actually make your house a home! Print a bunch of images and rotate them out!

This is what we do in our home! We keep each printed image INSIDE the frame and just put the next image over top. This way the frame starts to act like it’s own album! It’s always a fun surprise when we change out the frames that have several layers of images!

I think Barbara Bush says it the best my friends:

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, a parent.”