I think that somewhere, before I became a parent, I must have signed some sort of waiver that included among other things....
Your children will never (all) be happy at the same time (for more than 5 minutes).
You will be chronically sleep deprived.
You will have delusions of running off to some deserted island to live for at least a month to escape the noise and the laundry.
You will be reminded of the Calgon commercial on especially crazy days.
You will wish homework was never invented.
You will have to feed those kids at least three times a day.
You will worry about who their friends are, who they'll date, who they'll marry and if they're eating enough veggies.
You will shed tears when they're sad and feel joy when they're happy.
You will have days when you want to ship them to China (occasionally) and days when you know you are the most blessed mom ever (usually).
I love Sundays. Yesterday in church my friend Tresslee gave an amazing lesson based on a talk by President Uchtdorf..... Forget Me Not. He has become one of my favorite speakers lately. He just "gets it". He suggested 5 important things that we as women should never forget.
So, during my friend's lesson, I thought a lot about my parent journey. Let's be honest, some days are SO hard, SO frustrating, and SO exhausting. I'm pretty sure that was part of our Heavenly Father's plan. It's that whole "opposition in all things". How else are we going to figure out how to be patient, kind, and love unconditionally the way our Father in heaven does? So, I believe things are hard sometimes for a reason. But, how do we get past the daily grind of "have to's"? President Uchtdorf made this great analogy using the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story...
"The
happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they
are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure
the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who,
thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy."
Every day moments....I'm going to look for a few of those today and remember why I do love being a mom.