Happy New Year! It’s a great time to be alive! Unlike most, I don’t usually make a lot of resolutions in January. I know myself well enough to know that I need to be motivated to change and that the New Year doesn’t change my motivation much. It tends to take something larger. Something bigger than the dropping ball. Something that reaches deeper. Something that grabs my heart and tugs. Hard. That tug happened on my oldest daughter’s 5th birthday.
She turned 5 this November. I cried like a baby. Now, I get it. This is a milestone birthday that a lot of parents struggle with. Why is 5 such a magic number? I don’t have the answer to that but I do know that 5 made me reevaluate how I am spending my days. I’m not sure I liked what I noticed.
That’s why this year, I resolve to be present. I’m often distracted. I say “hurry up” a lot. I’m always thinking of the next thing — What needs to be packed in the diaper bag? Will I have enough time to run an errand before dinner? Oh yeah, what are we having for dinner? Tomorrow it’s supposed to be rainy so make sure Eva’s rain boots are by the door. On and on and ON.
Our life with three kids 5 yrs and younger is moving fast and I struggle to keep up. It’s not as if our children are involved in after school activities or have overly-packed schedules. In fact, the opposite is true with such little ones. It’s just that I’m not always taking the time to pay attention to the day-to-day things. Someday I fear I will look back on my children’s lives and realize all of my distractions and “hurry ups” mean that I forgot to imprint their little voices in my brain. Or the funny way Eva put on a talent show that day. Or how Micah loves to eat the lint off the carpet. Or how Nora will only sleep with sunglasses on these days.
Eva’s 5th birthday brought into sharp focus how fast the years are flying. I’ve heard it said about parenting that the days are long but the years are short. I couldn’t agree more! When I really thought about it, I realized that the next five years will go by even faster. And the five after that faster yet. And before I know it, I’ll be driving away from her college dorm with tears streaming down my face. I realized what a small percentage of her life is spent at home as a little girl. I don’t want to waste those moments with any of my babies. Therefore, I resolve to be present.
One way I’m going to do that is by keeping a Memory Jar. I was inspired by this picture I found on Pinterest. I love the idea of jotting something down daily, even if it seems like nothing important happened that day.
However, I know that if I run out of paper I will likely forget to keep writing things down. Therefore, I cut a big ol’ stack of papers today. Want to know what a stack of 365 papers looks like? This.
They’re about 2″ x 4″; small enough to fit through the mouth of an awesome quart sized Mason jar. It’s an aqua one from my grandmother’s collection which makes this project even more special. It will have the honorable job of holding our years’ worth of memories.
I’m ready to be present. I’m ready to capture the day-to-day moments that seem rote and mundane but are knitting the fabric of our family together. I’m ready for 2014. Are you?
