Lovely Lawson

I always feel like I’m chasing time. Coordinating every moment to follow the “right” order. Work. Pick up kids. Dinner. Bedtime. Repeat. What I ended up lacking was being present, especially present for my kids. Immediately following this realization was an immense amount of the classic “mom guilt”. During the conference the question of who I admired was asked, and I said without hesitation my mother-in-law. I love her ability to be present and play in her grandkids worlds, and nothing is out of the question, as typical grandparents rules go. I love that when the kids ask to eat lunch out on the porch is the dead of a Florida summer, it doesn’t phase her and her response would be “Let’s go and get the fans out. Do you want a burger?” Where as I would want to set up the space properly and probably just tell them next weekend, I don’t have things to make us comfortable … versus enjoying the time together - Being Present. I gave these various examples to my table partner during the Conference, and she brought up a post she recently read and these words stood out “Love without Rush”. The dishes and laundry can wait, the kids aren’t expecting things to be perfectly organized, rather just your presence in their world. Its about spending the extra 5 mins putting them to bed because they asked you too, even though you know you have 10 other responsibilities looming. Or having an impromptu watergun fight in the backyard even though you don’t want to get wet and start dinner. Because at the end of the day, you can never get those 5 min back and my kids will remember me reading a bed time story or the water gun fight over the dishes not being washed right after we ate. I put the quote in the direction of my watch because it’s about being present and loving the moments and experiences without a countdown.