The yelling. The screaming. The complaining. The repeated, obnoxious requests. The crying. The tantrums.
It’s crazy to think, but it’s true—someday, even this is something you’ll miss. Someday, the house will be quiet. Someday, it will take them a few days to return your call. Someday, you’ll be doing all this alone—traveling, sitting in your living room, wondering how to spend your weekend.
Sure, some of that will be wonderful. It will be calmer. It will be all yours. It will also be devastatingly quiet. It will be boring. It will be lonely.
Right now, you have them. Right now, you’re the one they come to with their complaints. Right now, you’re the one they ask for stuff. Right now, you’re at the center of it. That does not last forever.
Enjoy it while you can. Be present for it while you can. Appreciate it while you can. As loud and obnoxious and infuriating and exhausting as it is…it is a privilege you get for only so long.
“Now is now. It can never be a long time ago,” wrote Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now is all we have. We should never wish a minute of it away (we made this medallion as a helpful reminder). Not when we’re tired, not when we’re excited about what’s next, not when we’re frustrated with how things are going. We never get this moment back.
When you find yourself rushing, ask yourself what you are rushing towards. And remember—someday you would do anything to get back here to this very moment you are wishing away.
