perspective

I remember growing up reading a stitchery that my mom made... it hung on the hall wall outside my bedroom and I walked by it a lot... I read it a lot...

Cooking and cleaning can wait til tomorrow,
for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

I didn't totally grasp the meaning at the time, but now, as a mother of soon to be 4, and my first little baby just starting kindergarten... I most definitely do!

To keep perspective, I try to ask myself often what it is I'm focused on and where my attention is... and so I ask you, dear young mothers:

Are your children hanging at your legs as you try to make the bed, wash the laundry or dishes... fix dinner? Are you typing on the computer as your children are whimpering at your knee with a toy in hand?

Is this the time of your life??

Are you worn out? Exhausted? Just trying to "get there"?

Are you sitting on the floor playing with your children... dressing the dolls, reading books, playing cars or rolling the ball?

Is this incessant whining and crying just to drive you crazy or is it because you are missing an opportunity now that will never be there for you again?

Are you saying "just a minute" all day while your child wants to ask you questions and play... as you try to wash those last few dishes or put a couple of papers or toys away... does the park have to wait until later or tomorrow because that errand is so pressing?

3, 4 or 5 years down the road from now when you are finally organized and your life "is in order" are you going to look around your ankles to find that your young ones don't want to play with you anymore...? They'd rather play with their friends, and they spend half of their waking hours with a new teacher... a school teacher... rather than their mother teacher they've had from birth... don't miss out on what is yours for such a short time.