JUST BE

I have a great friend who I attended school with whom I look up to as a wonderful inspiring woman and mother. She has made me do a little soul searching with some of my day to day activities and obligations. I have used a few words from her great post and hope she doesn’t mind. Thank you for the little reminder of living each day to JUST BE!

One of the things that I have always been sure of is that I don’t want an overscheduled family. In April’s General Conference, Elder Ballard gave a poignant talk that empathized with young mothers. In it, he quoted the author Anna Quindlen, who said, “The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make…I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of (my three children) sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10-11) (M. Russell Ballard, The Ensign, 2008 General Conference address, 108 – 110)

This makes me cry. With a new one week old baby (Molly) and a 2 year old (Ella), I am aware that each day their babyhood, their childhood, is fleeting, I also know that life as a young mom will never be enough to chase away the yearning I will have when I am much older to see my babies as babies again. I have learned you will constantly be battling between maintaining and enjoying. I remember this as I am outside swinging at the park with Ella Jane and telling her it’s time to go home to take a nap or make dinner, or have a bath.

I need to SIMPLIFY! What does it mean to simplify my day-to-day life? I think it means, planning ahead household cleaning and other responsibilities, compounding all errands into one afternoon and forgiving and forgetting the things that don’t go as I had planned. I can’t change the fact that my husband, Spencer will spend a good portion of time at school or work; what I can affect is the carefree, childhood days my children have.
“I know that there can be joy in the doing and maintaining, but I want to create for my kids the opportunity to just be.” To take a walk to the park or blow bubbles in the backyard with no plans to go inside. To read stories and play pony’s and barbies without letting my mind wander to the heaping pile of dirty laundry that needs washed and folded or the bathroom that needs to be cleaned. To pull a stool up to the counter while making chocolate chip cookies (Ella’s favorite!) to teach them that responsibility is more fun when we do it together. To go to the park and wrestle and play when dad gets home, rather than run errands or participate in too many organized activities. This is what I want to do. I feel very satisfied with my life. I know it’s only going to get busier and more complicated so for today, I’ll make the decision to “just be.”