I go to MOPS every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. If you're not familiar with MOPS, it's an organization for moms and it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. The meetings usually consist of mothers getting together for prayer, sharing breakfast, talking about "mom-stuff", making crafts and then we have different speakers that talk about everything from keeping your child safe around pools to how to pray with purpose for your children. To be honest, I had been a little disheartened with the our speakers over the last few meetings and I wasn't looking forward to going this past month. But I hadn't been to a meeting in a couple of weeks so I thought I would give it another try. When the woman got up and starting speaking I felt myself tuning out....again.
Then she started to talk about her own son.
She talked about how she felt when her son was young and how she looked so forward to each one of his milestones. When he was first born, she couldn't wait until he smiled, when he was 6 mo old, she couldn't wait until he crawled, then walked, then talked. And before she knew it, she was standing in her kitchen talking to her 17 year old son that was almost a foot taller than her about which college he was going to attend in the fall. She then went on to say that during that conversation with her son, her mind began to wander back over the last 17 years. She couldn't believe how quickly it had all passed. Then she had an idea.
She told her son to sit on the countertop. She approached him and told him to wrap his arms around her. She also wrapped her arms around him and then attempted to carry him across the kitchen! As she stumbled back and forth, almost losing her balance several times she managed to get him back on the countertop without a scratch on either one of them. When he was finally able to stop laughing, he asked her what that was all about.
She simply responded, "Now I'll never forget the last time I held you."
When I picked Kaleb up from the nursery that day, he was asleep on a woman's shoulder. I quickly tried to remember the last time he had fallen asleep on me.
I couldn't.
I took that woman's story to heart and since that day I have tried to slow down. I've tried to enjoy my little boy because I know I will blink my eyes and he will be my big boy.
Two days after that MOPS meeting Kaleb came down with a cold and developed an ear infection. Since he had trouble sleeping, I put him on my chest and laid on the couch. He slept on me for almost 3 hours. Even though I never like to see my baby sick, I kind of feel like God gave me that little gift.
It was wonderful.
And I will never forget it.
2 comments:
Oh, Amy!! I so know what you mean! Cherish those "sick" moments when all he wants to do is cuddle!!
I feel like I'm always telling Bobby how fast time flies and how it seems so unfair! Sebastian's 10! What????
He just tells me to try to enjoy every moment, even the ones where the kids are fighting with each other over some toy, or Clemmie's teasing the dog yet again while I try to make dinner. Even the chaos is beautiful when you know that one day it will be gone and the house will be quiet.
I know I will WISH for these days back.
I know you enjoy Kaleb. Eat him up. Write about him. That's all you can do. That, and LOVE the heck out of him. Neither of you will ever forget that....
wow, thanks for sharing! It is always such a great reminder to cherish and enjoy every moment...but such a challenging thing to actually do. I am glad you had 3 hours of cuddle time with Kaleb. xoxo
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