Moments

The other day, I picked Reece up and said, "You are getting so big!  I won't be able to pick you up much longer."  That reminded me of an email I wrote about a year ago, and I thought it was worth putting on here and since today is my grandma's birthday, today is the perfect day for it:).  I do my best to soak up every little minute with my kids and family, but we all need reminders to slow down and enjoy every moment-big or small.

Here's the original:

My grandma is a beautiful lady...inside and out. She is a scrabble player, a four-wheeler rider, a margarita maker, piano player, real estate guru, poem writer, traveler...
She loves babies, baseball, big red barns, pictures, big words (that Reece tries to use)and using the computer...

Pretty neat lady, huh? Well, she is also a deep thinker. The other day I was sitting on her front porch talking to her and she said something that I cannot get out of my head. She said that sometimes in her thinking she wonders when was the last time she did something. She said, "I wonder when was the last time I put my child down off my lap." You know something so little that we do without even thinking. As our kids grow, we gradually stop doing things like putting them down off of our lap and there eventually will be a last time. She also said that she had a big wooden swing in her yard when she was little. She wondered when was the last time she jumped off that swing. As she grew she used it less and less and eventually there was a last time but she never really thought about it at the time.

So, I began thinking about my last times. Reece is only (almost) 5 years old. And I wonder, when was the last time I rocked him to sleep. He eventually just started falling asleep on his own, and there had to be a last time that I rocked him to sleep. When was the last time I put his clothes on for him? He eventually grew big enough to do this on his own, so there had to be a last time that I helped him.

At the time, did I know that would be the last time I rocked him to sleep or helped him get dressed? No. Little things like that just eventually stop without us realizing it. And that's OK. That is supposed to happen. (Even though I am tempted to go in there and beg Reece to let me rock him to sleep.) However, I know that from now on, I will not take those little moments, like getting my children dressed or helping them go to sleep, for granted. I will enjoy every time that I put them down off my lap, tuck them in, give them a bath, read them a story, or any little thing like that. Because eventually there will be a last time. They will move on to bigger and better things and I will love them more with every day and every phase of their lives. But now, I will enjoy every day and every phase of their lives even more than I already do.

We should all take the same attitude in every part of our lives. :)