Life is Beautiful

/ Tracy M

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We had a rough morning here. Mom overslept, ergo, everyone overslept. There was, once again, rushing and yelling and sussing kids out the door without kisses and I was (once again) left standing amid the echoing silent debris after little bodies leave, feeling like a first-class loser-mom.

Thinking of Kathryn Daring’s essay on Drops of Awesome, I decided to rewrite the narrative of the day. I ran upstairs, got myself put together (and for a fraction of a second channeled my inner Molly-Ringwald as I puckered up for some pink lipgloss) and grabbed my keys as I headed out the door.

I pulled Abby out of school for the day. We needed to spend some mama-daughter time, without homework, time-pressure, brothers, distraction, chores, deadlines or dishes. We just needed to be together, to talk, to hold hands as we walked, and remember how amazing the people we love truly are. She was surprised when she skipped into the office, but was all smiles when I told her what was up.

After stopping to pick up a new blouse and headband (appropriate for a fancy lunch with mama) we went to eat. A nice lunch. At a restaurant with multiple forks, white cotton napkins and tall ceilings. We spent the entire lunch talking- some conversations can only happen when you make room for them to unfold, when you stop, breathe, listen and really look at the person you’re interacting with as a human being, not just an obstacle to a time crunch, or a report card, or a goal. Even— no, maybe especially— when that person is your child.

I’m grateful my daughter will open up and share her marvelous insights with me. Yeah, she’s only six, but you’d be amazed at how astute a six-year old can be, when you stop and listen. She had a lot to say.

So like Kathryn, I found some drops of awesome. I called myself on the crummy start to the day, and made a course correction. No matter what she missed in school today, I missed my daughter more, and fixing that trumped everything.

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10 thoughts on “Life is Beautiful”

  1. YOU are a great Mom, Tracy! All great moms take their child out of school singly for a special time like this — realizing that their sweet children NEED this time, to be pampered by Mom. And for you, because your sweet children will not be in school for the rest of their lives and you will ( at some point in the future — trust me — you will), WISH, that you still had one more day like today to do with them.

    I did that with my son, who just returned from his mission on Wednesday night, and with my son who is a daddy of his own two sweet girls, and my daughter who was just married on Saturday and is off on her honeymoon — and how much I wish, during poignant moments, that I had just one of those days to replay. I swear, I might even get it right and not feel like a loser-mom ; )

    Enjoy every day — they are more fleeting that you realize in the moment.

  3. You are indeed a wise mama…and your children are wonderful. Now I’m on my way to check out my son…….thank you.

  5. Tracy, you’re my hero! I did the same things as a dad when kids were young. Thank you for this reminder since my kids are really never too old for one on one time.

  6. The pictures are beautiful – she is so grown up looking and getting so pretty! What a wonderful glimpse of the woman she will become. The times like these are the ones that I miss the most with my own mother.

  7. The next time I have a day like today, I hope to remember this and make my own course correction to rewrite the narrative. For me, it isn’t so much the reminder to make one-on-one moments count, though that’s important. I just needed the reminder that I can choose to change the direction of a day spiraling downward…

    On a more positive note, what an awesome day you and Abby shared! Well played, Tracy.

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