10/07/2022
Listen Mommasโฆ
That thing they always warn you about??? It happens.
The little boy with the freckles and the wide smile. The one who begged you to play Legos for hours and always said he wanted to marry YOU when he grew up. That little love of your lifeโฆ
Suddenly, youโll blink and heโll be 12.
A full-blown tween. A pr***en. Practically a teenager.
And before you know what is happening, heโll be obnoxious and run his sassy mouth and roll his eyes and pick fights with his siblings as his form of โplay.โ Heโll stop building Legos and asked repeatedly to play video games.
Youโll wonder where that sweet little boy went.
And then youโll panic.
Because you canโt remember the last time you pushed him on the swings.
Was it the backyard swings?
Or the park?
How old was he that last time??
Did you give him an underdog?
Did he ask you one time but you were too busy picking up dog p**p in the yard, so you absent-mindedly replied โJust pump your legsโ so he never asked again???
Youโll want to cry over this.
But listen to me nowโฆitโs okay.
Because this next stage???
Itโs different and frustrating and weird. But I promise it is lovely too.
Let me tell you about this whole new thing calledโฆThe Front Seat.
Suddenly, the little boy whoโs been buckled in a carseat in the back for SO LONG is big enough to sit in the front seat of the car.
And youโll be driving him EVERYWHERE. Basketball practice and soccer games and late nights with friends. So, every single day youโll have this unexpected one-on-one time with your boy.
Heโll fiddle with the radio and turn it up way too loud. Heโll eat all your gum. Heโll tell you stories about school or friends or Fortnite or a funny meme and youโll notice how his freckles sparkle when he gives you his wide smile.
If youโre lucky, sometimes a good song will come on so youโll both sing together at the top of your lungs and he wonโt roll his eyes or think youโre annoying at all.
It will make you want to cry.
Iโm telling you, itโs even better than pushing him on the swings because every single day you realize a little more what an amazing person he is becoming.
That little boy you always knew is right thereโฆand somehow this beautiful new person is emerging too.
It is lovely.
I mean, reallyโฆisnโt it lovely to know a person from his very first breath and watch him become a confident young man right before your very eyes???
Iโm beginning to think this is how LIFE is going to goโฆ
Weโll panic and believe the best parts are over.
Weโll cry and mourn the passing of another stage.
But then weโll be surprised again and again at the next breathtakingly beautiful moment to come along.
Just think, one day youโll cry at his wedding. And another day, you might hold his newborn baby in your arms.
My goodness, I think the only thing we can do is sit back and soak it in and just enjoy this beautiful little lifeโฆone lovely moment at a time
Shared with permission from Ordinary on Purpose, by Mikala Albertson
