“People warn you over and over…just wait until they’re teenagers.
Let me instead offer you a glimmer of hope dear friends.
For a while, I would get up every morning to the smell of coffee brewing.
My husband Todd and I are both still in bed.
And nope, we never remember to set up our coffee on the night before.
Our second born would get up before us and makes us coffee every morning just because she knows we need it.
You guys…I can’t even with the joy (#coffeeislove)!
There is just so much to look forward to for moms of littles.
The long talks with your tall people give you new insights into life.
The shared jokes they actually get make you both laugh until you cry.
Sharing clothes and shoes and makeup and yes they often bail me out sharing their stuff with me (I’m looking at you, gray sweater of Lily’s I wear weekly).
They help in cleaning and running errands and the containment of general mayhem.
Sometimes they are now helpful without us even asking…and when we ask even when they complain the work looks better.
So there’s that.
There are the days the oldest takes the youngest for ‘Ellie and Sammy days’ to places he picks, and plays right by his side.
Be still my heart.
You get the fun of watching them become friends before your eyes even if it means they aren’t telling you all their secrets…they have each other and always will.
And oh the excitement of watching the life of someone you love stretch out before them with the glorious possibility you can almost touch.
Teenagers are beyond amazing.
I’ve met a lot of them and it’s not just mine.
As a group, these people will be changing our world in all the best ways.
So trust me, friends…you might miss things about the little years but the trade-off will give you back so much you can’t even imagine.
Don’t let us fool you when we talk about eye-rolling and backtalk and the always wanting the car.
That’s just a part of it.
There is so much to look forward to and we get to be here for all of it.
How lucky are we?”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee by Amy Betters-Midtvedt. The article originally appeared here. Follow Amy on Instagram here. Submit your own story here and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
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