Savoring the Everyday Moments

Today I read a quote that has helped me put the past few weeks in perspective: The days are long but the years are short.

I’ve been struggling with some long days lately as I’ve dealt with the monster snow storms that have shut down the city and kept us indoors and homebound, tried to keep up with work deadlines (two speeches and three feature stories to be exact) without the benefit of childcare (due to school closings from the aforementioned monster storms), and a sweet hubby who hasn’t been home before 10:00 p.m. or to bed before 1:00 a.m. in quite some time (hello busy season). Not to mention a toddler who seems to be developing more free will every single day.

That simple little quote today made me realize, though, just how fast the years do go by. I’m already knee deep in planning Evan’s third birthday party. It seems like just yesterday I was walking into the hospital to have him.

I’m going to try to do a better job of savoring the little moments of joy in the long days we all experience. So, my list of things I want to remember from this week:

The perfect and thoughtful Valentine’s Bryan gave Evan and me first thing Sunday morning. Not to mention the surprise and look of sheer joy on Evan’s face when he opened the new book Bryan gave him (Super Why—Evan’s new favorite cartoon).

Singing the Super Why theme song long after I’d seen the show or put Evan to bed. (If you haven’t heard it, it goes a little something like this… “Hip hip hooray, the super readers save the day.” Repeat about 30 times).

Sharing a glass of lemonade with Evan at his school Valentine’s party.

The sweet hug Evan gave me and how he said, ‘I love you, mommy,’ when I told him I would buy him his very own special can of shaving cream he could use in the bathtub. (May it always be so easy to please him.)

Taking a bath and watching my belly move around as little arms or legs gave some nudges from the inside.

That although I’m the type of mom who will go to bed with dishes still in the sink, I am also the type of mom who will let Evan help me make the cookies, pancakes, scrambled eggs, rice, chicken, etc., no matter how much extra work it makes during the clean-up (and cooking) process.

I forged ahead and met all my deadlines, even if it meant staying up until 1 a.m.

Snuggling with Evan. Snuggling with Bryan.

The ease with which Bryan got Evan to go back to bed around 2:00 this morning. I was quite impressed.

I’m sure there are plenty of other moments I should remember, and they’ll probably come to me as soon as I hit publish. But, these are enough to at least help me keep the big picture in perspective. The years will fly by.