Babies Don't Keep

When I was a new mom, older moms constantly told me to let things go and to just enjoy my new baby. Like most young moms that I knew, I couldn't let go. I can remember being so stressed out trying to do the silliest little jobs while managing a newborn. I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself trying to keep my house in absolute order and do all sorts of jobs to organize, or keep organized, or to keep things perfect. 

It's sad to me now, not because I feel like I missed out on anything because I do not, but because I constantly had this stress and pressure over my head. It was all my own doing. I needed to let go and just enjoy my babies!

Yesterday I was washing the seats of our bench around the sides and back of our kitchen table and was reminded of things that we can let go. The non-pressing matters that seem to feel REALLY important. 18 months ago my life was flipped upside down and I could literally do nothing. One year ago I could do more, but I was still very, very limited. Now I can do most things to take care of our home, though I'm still somewhat slow. I am so fortunate to have Scott to help!

One of the things that was let go was this bench. I scrubbed and scrubbed it and still didn't get it perfectly cleaned, although it looked a heck of a lot better once I was done. It's not something that I thought to ask anyone else to help with when I couldn't do it. I let go unknowingly. I was overwhelmed with plenty of other things! Forgetting about this task, realizing it needed done and that it hadn't in well over a year, then finally doing this was a gentle reminder to not be uptight about things because what all those older, more experienced mom is had told me before was true. Babies don't keep. Children don't keep either. Before I know it my kids will be off to college, getting married, and making me a grandma. Sure, when left undone, the thought of this sort of thing makes me itching to take care of it, as do so many tasks. Tasks, that to an extent, can be let go for a few more weeks, a few more months. But this pales in importance to what really matters. If only I had known that what they said was true, babies don't keep.