I find myself thinking of the future so much these days.
I hear myself saying I can’t wait for spring. (Because I am tired of the winter)
I can’t wait until its summer. (When I get to go to Israel for the first time. Yay!)
I am looking forward to fall. (When I get to see both my sons both play football)
Then I have to stop and remind myself to enjoy the present. Stand still and take it all in.
The dinners with my family. The lounging in bed watching espn and sports center with the boys. The family vacations. The laying on the floor petting our loyal Labrador retrievers.
Why am I in such a hurry for the future? Why do I always yearn for something else and not what’s currently happening in our life?
Maybe its because I am so used to running from activity to activity that I don’t have time to stop and enjoy it.. Our life is an endless series of basketball, football and baseball in the form of practices, lessons and games. And looking at schedules and planning out our next week of commitments. Our kids love it and seem to be flourishing. That’s all that matters, right?
I just finished reading The Gift of An Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison. It was so relatable and an incredible read.
She has two boys and they are getting older and moving further away from her. (Figuratively and eventually literally) As she says, “Pay attention to the moment at hand- the worn wooden table still scattered with breakfast crumbs, the breeze coming through the open door, the stillness of late morning, my nearly grown son sitting at my side, waiting my response to his work.”
I see this happening in my life too, of course. My sons are getting older and becoming young men and I am merely the vessel that is carrying them through this journey.. They will eventually be making their own choices and hopefully the guidance we have given them will have some effect on them.
Kenison continues and quotes poet Kahill Gibran. “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
And my favorite quote from the book. “We have all been so busy- doing our work, growing up, being a family. Soon it will all end. All this striving, accommodating, juggling, will be the past…No more college applications to proofread or loads of sweaty t-shirts in the hamper. No more enormous sneakers to trip over as I walk through the back door. And I will miss all of it. The beauty that I love is the life that we live, the four of us together, now, this moment, with all its cluttered complexity and inconvenience. The beauty that I love is the gift of every ordinary day that’s left to me. “
So I am trying to stop and smell the roses as they say. (or as one of my incredible mentors has said to me many times) Slow down. Enjoy each day. Relish these moments with my children. Be present. The spring, the summer and the fall will come soon enough. And another year will have passed.
Enjoy the ordinary moments. Life is good.
Kim Gellman is the owner of Artisticsensations.com, a fun and hip website that sells kids furniture, bedding, and room decor from baby to college age kids. She is the mother of two boys and enjoys every moment of life and all its adventures!
