Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be...

If you ever find that you are feeling too good about yourself, go to Barnes and Noble. It will nip that feeling right in the bud. Maybe its just me, but when I see all the books I am not reading and all the hobbies I am not pursuing, I get bummed. I went in to look at a book on Las Vegas (going in June!) and kill some time before I was meeting a friend for lunch. I left there wishing I was a photographer/chef/yoga master who also managed to do wholesome arts and crafts with my kids, on a budget, while being green. Oh yeah and a Milf. Seriously. I saw a book on this called "Got Milf?: The Modern Mom's Guide to Feeling Fabulous, Looking Great, and Rocking A Minivan". I see this book and I think... Wow, not only has this lady got it figured out, but she had time to sit down and write book about it. And she got paid for it. The only rocking going on in my minivan is "Kids Bop". Sigh. So, I started feeling less than adequate (shocker!) and you know what I did? I thought about my list from yesterday. About how my kids think I am fabulous and my husband thinks I look great. . And you know what? That is good enough for me.

There will be a day when I miss the craziness that is my life right now. This dirty laundry up to the ceiling, spaghetti in my hair, losing my mind kind of time. Think about it. Remember college? I wanted to get out and make money. (On a side note I graduated at 20 (what was I thinking?!) when a 30k starting salary sounded like a million dollars). I was tired of going to class, tired of eating canned green beans and ramen noodles. Sure I had fun but some stupid/insane part of me wanted to get out and get on with my life. And I did. And then I missed it. And I can never go back and do it again.

Parenting young kids is alot like college. You've got your late nights, it's loud, you have inconsiderate roommates who leave their stuff all over the floor and are up all hours of the night...and sometimes you wish it would hurry up and be over with. When it feels hard. And you are tired. And you wish you could just get done with this stage of life. But once we get on the other side of this stage and have school age kids, then teenagers, then adult children, we can't do this part over. We are living this part right now. So enjoy right now, don't wait for what's next. Be mindful of little moments, the sweet ones and file them away for when it feels too hard. When you are scraping frosted flakes off of the wall or removing an action figure from your toilet, think of how it feels to snuggle your little one  in your lap fresh from the bath. Or how neat it is when they start to become their own little person. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT the touchy feely type. And I very seriously doubt I am going to have a 100% success rate at replacing "run away and join the circus" moments with warm fuzzies. But I am going to try.