“Stop telling me I only have eighteen summers with my kids.
Stop telling me I only have nine hundred and forty Saturday’s with them. Well that number is a lot lower for me now.
Stop telling me to soak it all up and enjoy every moment.
Just stop.
You know what’s stressing me out in motherhood? Blogs and posts and books that are telling me all of those things.
Stressing me out so much I can’t enjoy it because I’m too busy stressing and doing the math to find out how many Saturday’s or summers or enjoyable moments I have left or how many I’ve already missed out on.
Y’all some parents were only blessed with one Summer with their baby, some don’t enjoy every single minute or moment because they are the proud parents of a screaming toddler or a teenager that they don’t even recognize right now.
Some parents never even get one Saturday with their child because they never made it that far.
So, stop telling me what I’m missing, stop telling me how many summers I have or Saturday’s and that it’s all so limited and stop telling me I’m a bad mom if I don’t enjoy every single flipping minute of motherhood during those Saturday’s or summers.
Stop telling me all of those things because the truth is none of us are promised one more minute, one more day.
We are not promised one more summer or one more Saturday or even one more moment to enjoy or not enjoy.
So, instead remind me to enjoy it when I can and tell me it’s okay on the days that I don’t really find it too fun to have a toddler pull a complete meltdown in the middle of the store.
Remind me that if I’m lucky I’ve already had a summer or a Saturday with my sweet babies and if I’m blessed I’ll have lots more and if heaven forbid I don’t then remind me that the ones I had were really special simply because we were together
Then remind me if I’m really blessed I’ll get to see my grown-up kids after they are eighteen not just on Saturday’s or during the summer but a lot more days of the week.
So, stop telling me it’s all going to end, and I better enjoy it because have mercy you are stressing me out more than motherhood ever could.
Now if you’ll excuse me I am going to go back outside with my three guys while we enjoy this non-eventful Sunday.
One that’s not crammed with all the things we need to do before they turn eighteen or before my nine hundred and forty Saturday’s dwindle down even more.
I’m no longer counting, and you shouldn’t either. Instead I’m soaking up every minute I’ve been given in the here and now.”
This story was written by Nikki Pennington of Grief To Hope. You can follow her journey on Facebook. Subscribe to our free email newsletter, Living Better—your ultimate guide for actionable insights, evidence backed advice, and captivating personal stories, propelling you forward to living a more fulfilling life.
Provide hope for someone struggling. SHARE this story on Facebook with your friends and family.