By Paige Nash
As a mom of three children, I stay busy, tired, worried, you know, the usual mom stuff that everyone talks about. I have three girls, an eight, four and one year old. These girls keep me in stitches. I seriously believe they are the funniest people I have ever met, and I just so happened to create.
I thought this column might be a cool way to share some of the silliness, that helps to lighten the load of motherhood that gets a little heavy sometimes. It is within these moments throughout the day that makes every hard thing worth it for me. I thought it may bring a little sliver of happiness to your day, as well.
My middle child, she is a character. I am not even sure if she tries to be funny, she just is. Over her four years of life, I have shared countless: “Things Ashton Says” posts with my Facebook friends.
The latest of these happened a week ago. We bought her a box of band-aids all her own. She saw these Paw Patrol kind she just had to have a couple of weeks ago and that is all she has asked for ever since. (Seriously, she asked for them for her birthday.) So, I obliged. Then, the conversation went a little like this:
Ashton: I think I’m going to need a band-aid tomorrow.
Me: Oh, why do you think that?
Ashton: I think I will probably fall down in the morning and hurt my knee.
I giggled and just thought to myself that this box of band-aids will not make it two days.
It made me think though. I had been feeling anxious all week about the girls upcoming dance recital. In addition to the usual everyday stresses, I was making a mental checklist of all the things I needed to get done or gathered and organized for the dress rehearsal and recital. I kept thinking, “If I can just make it through this weekend.”
Just like Ashton was anticipating her falling and hurting herself, so that she could use one of her new band-aids. I was anticipating Sunday, when everything would be done for the week, and I could just relax.
Why though? Why not just open the box of band-aids and slap one on now. (We all know that is exactly what is going to happen anyway.) Why not try and enjoy the day we are currently in, instead of wishing this time away or worrying about what could go wrong.
Yes, it is going to be stressful. Yes, there are going to be late nights and yes, it is going to jack the one-year old’s sleep schedule up for the next two weeks and yes, you are going to spend most of the night chasing her up and down the aisles because there is no way she is going to sit still for a three-hour recital.
But it could be magical if I just let it. This is something I have struggled with after becoming a mom. There are things I stress about that I never even knew I needed to stress about before I had children. It took me a while to realize I can control this (most of the time.)
So, I told Ashton to go ahead and open that box of band-aids and I took a deep breath and relaxed and it was magical. Watching my two older girls on that stage show-off all the hard work they have put in over the year was the best I have felt in a long time.
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