Babies Don’t Keep

BABIES DONT KEEP

They had this fairytale flair of cleaning.
These ‘littles’ I called my own.
“Don’t come up yet” they’d yell down the stairs.
I’d smile knowingly.
And when everything was clean and I was given the okay, the door would be flung open, magical music would be playing and proud smiles would be displayed.

The music got me every time.

It was as if they turned ‘cleaning their bedrooms’ into a Walt Disney production, with all the dramatic effects.

Looking back, cleaning was a household word.

Mom (I) was a clean freak.

Every day had its chore and every thing had its place.

Living in a parsonage, the worry over appearances took over the ease of letting life happen and loving it.

Too often.

Would anything life changing have happened if I had let the dusting go one more week?
If I had allowed toys to lay around an extra day?
If the pillows weren’t perfect on the couch and the dishes weren’t all washed?

Here I sit 25 years later.

The same house. The same rooms.

Something life changing did happen. I put down the mop and my high expectations for the Pinterest perfect house and looked around.

The same rooms~now empty.

No more toys.
No more dramatic entrances into fairytale bedrooms.
No more pillows strewn all over the floor.

Life changed.

My kids grew up.

The vacuuming. The mopping.
The dusting. The chores.
It’s all still here.

My kids are not.

Tidying up can be done tomorrow.
Even if your children are “posing” in it, that picture or story for Instagram can wait.

Your kids cannot.

Tomorrow and the next day and then 25 years later you can take all the pictures in the world.

But the little hands will no longer be tugging.
The little feet will no longer be running.
The little laughter will no longer be ringing in your ears.

The chores will wait.

Life will not.

It will continue to move, even as your walls stand still around you.

So build a fort in the living room.
Have a pillow fight in the den.
Play Barbies in the bedroom.
Smile at the dishes in the sink.
Laugh at the dust that will be there tomorrow~

And love until it aches.

Love on those babies until it aches.

Because the cleaning and dusting and dishes will all still be here tomorrow...

But your babies won’t. 💕