RUN...cherish each moment

I sit listening to a familiar "battle" of my 1 year old, Josh, pushing his fake lawnmower that pops balls up loudly as he walks, and my 5 year old, Avery, trying to watch her PBS cartoon telling him, "Lawnmowers can't go inside, Josh!"  Normally I would start feeling anxious and debate in my head how to approach the situation...do I ignore it knowing that what I give attention to usually increases repetition of it happening again, do I hope it just goes away, do I let one have their way knowing whoever I choose, the other will feel I love them less, do I get involved so there it doesn't turn into a larger fight or am I supposed to let my kids learn to find a solution because if I solve everything for them, I make them dependent on me in life...too much pressure!!  But instead of this inner turmoil, today I decide to lavish in the moment of having small kids, knowing they grow up too fast and before I know it, I will wish I was worried about how to solve an issue between PBS cartoons/play lawnmower, instead of dating, drugs, and bad influences when they get older!

Later, Scott and I sit watching a show.  We begin to become aware of a soft pitter-patter around us.  The sound gradually becomes louder and louder until it is accompanied by a booming, smile-filled yell, as Josh finishes his "un" (run), head first into the couch.  He comes with such force, and he is a tank--so let's face it, when you have a bit of velocity on his side, there's no stopping him-- so that his chubby legs flip up in an arch behind him.  Scott and I look at each other and relish in the joy it is to have a chunky, solid, hilarious, sweet, all-boy, 1-year-old.  I remind myself how HORRID last week was moving our whole house, and try to just be in the moment, taking it all in, instead of let my mind wander to the next "fire" that needs my attention. 


We joke how funny it is that kids have an innate desire to RUN almost everywhere they go, and how it would be even more funny if adults had the same need.  Imagining co-workers wildly running down the halls at work to their cubicles, teachers running down the halls at school reminding students not to do so as they pass them wildly waving their arms behind them, Dads running in the door from work jumping on the couch, even Congress running to the pulpit to debate world issues!  I relate a story to Scott that once at a dance rehearsal where us moms brought our children, I started running around like the kids, and we all couldn't help but bust up laughing at the oddness of the sight of an adult doing what kids do so naturally! 

I realize how silly it is, to let my mind wander to a subject so insignificant as adults running, spawned by me enjoying my boy do just that.  I wonder why it is so HARD to let ourselves live IN the moment?  Why do we let stress overwhelm and paralyze us?  What makes one day happier, harder, or more stressful than another?  Although I know there are circumstances that are truly unlaughable and unimaginably hard that some go through in life, for the most part we can make each day more livable, more happy, more enjoyable, as we stop to enjoy ourselves in the moment.  Smell the roses.  Treasure the view.  Carpe Diem.

Although we can't wish away our hardships, our outlook and perspective can truly make a huge

difference on how we handle them.  This same positive outlook can cause us to look for the memories to cherish, the ones we can't bottle and will vanish with time if we don't enjoy them in the moment.  May we "un" (run) and take time to notice the moments we want to remember, happily. :) 

"My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we 'accentuate the positive.' I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort."
--Gordon B. Hinckley