Life Is Too Short For Stupid
My mother used to say, “Life it too short for stupid”. Growing up I thought this phrase was
ridiculous. I would roll my eyes every time
I heard it. And believe me, I heard it a
lot. Not that my mother thought I was
stupid or that my life was stupid. I
think she just felt that it was important for me to realize that not only was
life short but it was important to make the aspects of your life valuable. Use your life to do what makes you happy and fulfill your goals. It is important to have direction and not to
waste time on people, places or things that did not enhance your being. To put it bluntly, you need to get a life and then be present in it.
"Be Glad" was another phrase my mother used that radiated
throughout my childhood. It was a phrase
from the movie “Pollyanna”, another eye-roller. Let's be honest, life can be hard and demanding and it takes every bit of patience that I
never knew I had. Becoming a wife and a mother were two of the biggest achievements in my life. Two points in time when I look back with love and joy and satisfaction. It is in these moments that "I Am Glad". I am forever thankful that I married a great man and together we are blessed with three wonderful kids. However, that being said, while being a mother and raising children is supposed to be fun and
exciting it is also many other things too. What no one ever tells you is
that it is also stressful and messy and HARD! Making decisions for someone and
hoping that they are the right decisions is crazy! Then not
knowing how your decisions will impact them for days and weeks and months to
come can drive you nuts! While these are all fact of parenthood I also must admit that I have never felt more
needed, more loved and more important than when I became a mother. I have three children and having these children has made me realize that I just don’t have time…time
for people who don’t make the picture of my life more beautiful, time to waste
doing the same needless chores over and over again in a day just so that my house can appear perfect, or time to spend on stupid things that take away from my time to read and play and color and
listen to my kids. Life is too short for stupid.
My greatest goal these days is to simply be present. I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to spend time worrying about the school bus, weather, money and the chicken pox. I am even more amazed at how much more of a challenge it is to leave the dishes in the sink or the laundry in the laundry baskets while I sit and watch a movie with my children instead. I just want to be present. I want to enjoy the time that I have with my husband and my kids now. I love seeing my daughter with her missing front tooth or listening to my youngest read to his older brother at bedtime. It amazes me to see my oldest son proudly do his homework at the dining room table and then pack his backpack after he is done. These are the little things. On their own they may seem like the mundane ins and outs of life. But together they add up to this flash of time that I have right now. In another month or two the gap in my daughter's smile will close and she will look that much older. My youngest son will start reading quietly to himself at night and my oldest son will start complaining about his homework as he would rather be playing on the Wii. This time will pass and I don't want to miss it.
'Life is too short for stupid" and "Be "Glad". These are words to live by.
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