Linda Eyre
One of the great challenges of Motherhood is to remember to seize the day and to enjoy the moment…no matter what! We so often find ourselves thinking “life is going to be so much easier when…..” “It will be so much better when the baby can walk” and then the baby finally walks and we think, “Sheesh, it was so much easier when that baby just sat in one place and I always knew where she was!”
One of our daughters, Saydi who is now a mother herself learned this lesson poignantly one night when she was reading to her little three year old daughter Hazel (named for our amazing Mother/Grandmother). After the first few pages, Hazel interrupted her mom at the turn of almost every page to ask, “Is this the happening page?” Puzzled and not understanding her question, Saydi went on with the story as Hazel asked over and over as the pages turned, “Is this the happening page?” Suddenly she realized what she meant. “Is this where the climax of the story really happens? Is this what we’ve been waiting for?” Is this the exciting part of the story?”
She smiled and over the next day or two couldn’t help reflecting on that experience as she likened Haze’s question to Motherhood. We so often wish away “the pages” of our lives, hoping for something exciting to happen or for things to change so that we can get to the climax of our lives. In actuality every day is “a happening page”. Yes, stress and dilemmas are abundant, but also every one of our lives is also filled with the joy of “the happening page” if we’re watching for it!
True, there are times when we really are in survival mode…sleep deprived for months at a time with a new baby or by children who won’t stay in their beds. There are times when our mental health is in danger because a certain stage in a child’s life is about to push us over the edge, but if we step back and look at the big picture, we need to realize that most of our craziest days will someday be something to laugh about and remember with fondness. Sometimes we may even have physical conditions or financial stresses that seem to be ruining our plans for what we had in mind for the next page of our lives. Still it is a happening page. It’s just not happening as we had dreamed…on that page. Our biggest trials are often the ones that teach us the most.
As we begin the new school year the challenge is to make every page of your life as a mother, for better or for worse, “a happening page.”