Wishing Your Life Away
Thank God it’s September and the kids are back in school! I was one of those mothers who uttered this proclamation when my kids were school-age. I wished away the month of August hoping for the first day of school to arrive. I made a similar proclamation early into the holiday season when the kids were overly excited and underfoot. Now I’d love to have my three kids around and underfoot.
I learned the hard way to not wish my life away. Too often over the years I wanted to just “get through” or “beyond” whatever was going on at the time. I wanted to get to the next level.
When my kids were babies I couldn’t wait until they slept through the night. Then I couldn’t wait until they crawled. Then it was walking…then going to school...then graduating from high school. I often looked forward to the next step without totally appreciating where my kids were at a given time.
Then I learned to beware of what you wish for. Once my kids started sleeping through the night, I missed the alone-time-bonding that came during the middle-of-the night awakenings. Crawling (as you all know) was cute the first day and a pain from that day forward. Walking was an even bigger challenge (more for me than for the kids!) And, to tell the truth, I missed my kids when they were in school.
Life happens fast, too fast. My wishes for the kids became a reality soon enough. How I wish now that I enjoyed the kids more when they were all home. (Now two of them live out of state and my youngest, Emily, 24, still lives at home, but she’s hardly around!) I miss the laughter, the activity and—yes—the confusion. There may be less work on my part, but there’s also something missing in my life.
I wish I had enjoyed each and every day with my children without looking for happiness to arrive in the future. Happiness was always there…too bad I was so unaware!
Comments
Amen to this one, Sandra. It's the empty nest for me next year. boo hoo!!!!
Posted by: Carol | September 27, 2007 06:18 PM