I've been very busy here with my art, yet aside from all my artsy stuff, there is the daily house stuff too. Like laundry (countless items it seems) and vacuuming the entire house daily because of our shedding pups and cleaning out our chicken's cages and washing wet doggy nose marks off the glass windows and doors and picking up toys and who knows what else. You know, the daily stuff.
The other day I was in the middle of this daily stuff, and it was early, and I wanted to fit a lot in. I just finished the chicken's cages, next I grabbed the bed sheets and some other laundry and there little Dakota steps in front of me and says, "Mommy up." So simply yet so sincerely.
Totally took me off track of my 'big mission'... for I was focused.
"Mommy up?" I ask. "Give me a minute."
That minute turned to a few.
Dakota repeats himself...a bit firmer, a bit louder. Actually, quite bold. "Mommy. Up."
I see the markers spilled out on the floor under the little art table and see my Aussie ripping up a napkin she found somewhere, white shredded pieces for me to clean up. My mind felt like it was going a million miles a minute, with a list so long, I felt I needed to tackle it all. Nothing was going to stop me.
"Dakota" I ask, "How am I supposed to do 'up' with all this laundry in my arms and all these things I need to do right now?"
And there Dakota's sweet brown eyes looked up at me and in the calmest, most innocent little voice he says...
"You stop mom."
Oh yea. Why didn't I think of that? I mean, that's true wisdom... Why didn't I think of that? Oh, because it wasn't in my plan to 'stop'. I wanted to keep going with no interruptions. I wanted to get it done. I wanted to keep going and beat some 'nonexistent timeline'.
Yet in truth, the only real thing on a timeline are my boys growing up. Little four-year-old Dakota won't be asking me 'Mommy up' one day.
I know this. I write about this. I write about slowing down and stopping and living in the moment. Yet sometimes when I have a list a mile long in my head, I forget this. I write this blog but I'm not perfect either.
No one lives more in the moment then a child. The past is the past and the future isn't even a thing yet. They live in the beautiful now. As a mother, it is my job to remember this.
Laundy and ripped up napkins from my dog mean nothing. Picking up my four-year-old because he wants to connect with me is everything.
Think about it. What in your day do you tend to get so wrapped up in or feel pressured to do or finish that you forget to think about the importance of the moment? I've read and heard 'time is an illusion.' Now that I think about it, when it is something you prioritize, there is ALWAYS time to fit it in. When it is something you prioritize.
Prioritize the moment you have. The now. I vow to remember this as well, even in my busiest moments.
I put down the laundry that filled up my arms. I picked up little Dakota and he wrapped his little arms around me. I held him close and gave him a million kisses. And you know what? The laundry still got done. The wet chewed up napkin from my beautiful Aussie still got picked up. As for everything else on my mental list? I don't even remember what I felt rushed to do that day.
What I do remember, I will remember forever, and that is the simplicity in Dakota's answer. It is the deep feeling of holding my little boy tight in my arms. It is the fact he asks for me to pick him up and hold him, above anything else he could be doing. That's what I will remember.
I hope if you get caught up in feeling rushed or there is 'so much' on your mental list, I hope you too can take advice from my four-year-old and 'stop'. Even if it is only five minutes, you owe those five minutes to yourself and the ones around you. Take deep breathes, give someone a hug, step out into the sunlight.
Anything that will bring you joy.
How will you have the time you ask? Just 'stop' and do it. It's that simple.
Until next time...
