The other morning as I was walking down the hall, I could hear a sound coming from the kids’ room. I carefully opened the door a crack and could see that Jack was still fast asleep, however Emma, my one year old, was sitting happily in her crib singing a sweet tune to herself. My heart of course melted to hear her sweet voice making up words and trying out little melodies. It was so adorable. Later that same day she started singing “Rock-a-by Baby” to my mom and me, and my mom looked at me and said, “that’s exactly what you used to do”. It suddenly struck me with how it must be for my mom to watch my little girl doing some of the same things I did when I was that age. It’s like my mom gets to be taken back in time to when I was a little girl, and re-live some of those memories.
As parents, we get front row seats to our children’s lives, and as we watch, we get to try and make as many memories as we can. There’s just one problem; those moments go by so quickly! Just when you think that your little baby will be happy to lay on a blanket forever and just stare up at you and smile and coo, all of a sudden you’re chasing him around the house! It goes by so quickly, and a challenge I have as a mom is to make the most of the moments and mark them in some way so that I can preserve their memory.
I keep a journal of each of my kids and when they do something fun or new, I like to write it down (not that I’m perfect at it). It’s so much fun to go back through those journals and read over their accomplishments and milestones. I imagine one day when Jack and Emma are both much older, showing them their journals and telling them stories of all the fun things they did when they were little. They probably won’t have memories from their first few years of life, so it’s my goal to help preserve some of those memories for them, and get to share them with my kids as they grow older.
My song “These Are The Days” came out of this thought that time is so fleeting, and my kids are doing new things every day. I want to remember everything they are doing now, so that when they grow up and move out and aren’t around anymore (that seems impossible at this moment!) I enjoy remembering back to these moments, treasuring them forever.
The song also reflects upon how easy it is for us as parents to make all these plans and have all these expectations of our children (whether we do that consciously or not). In reality, our kids are going to have to chart their own path, and rather than spend a bunch of our time planning out their future, I need to be content with the here and now, and not worry too much about what is to come. If I do, I might miss the moments happening right before me. I don’t know if that strikes a chord with any one else out there, but I am so glad for the reminder to just be and dwell with my kids. Enjoy moments every day with your loved ones. Try and be fully present with them when they are telling you stories about their day. They know when you are fully paying attention to them, or when you’re just there in body and not in spirit.
“These are the days, I’ll look back to when I miss you. Too soon they’ll be, sweet memories I’ll hold on to, but for now, I’ll hold you” -from “These Are The Days“
Beautiful post Katie – and so true!! I have similar thoughts all the time and can’t believe how quickly our babies change and grow right before our eyes! I love your journal idea, I really need to start doing something like this to hold some of these memories forever :)
Love your music! Enjoying your new blog and look forward to more posts! My sentimental husband started a tradition where every year on our daughters’ birthdays, he wrote them a long letter about what they’d done the past year – the good, the bad, and the ugly. He kept a little running list on his computer so he wouldn’t forget anything throughout the year. When each girl graduated from highschool, he had the handwritten pages bound into a book for them. They read those treasured books written in their Dad’s handwriting and laugh and cry (and apologize for lots of stuff…), and it’s a wonderful treasury of memories. Hopefully they will continue the tradition with their own children.
You can certainly see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. All the time follow your heart.