I Miss My Kids

I MISS MY KIDS

Tonight I walked upstairs to brush my teeth and it hit me.

I miss my kids.

How many times had I walked up these very stairs to tuck them in at night?

They don’t live across the country.
They don’t even live an hour away.
They live right here in my hometown.

But now and then, I still miss them.

I miss washing dinner dishes on a Monday night, as I hear them all laughing with their daddy in the other room.
I miss all of us squeezing in together on the couch for family movie night.
I miss having an after school snack ready for them as they walked through the door.
I miss helping them with homework and school projects, floats and parades.
I miss telling them to get their pajamas on and brush their teeth.
I miss praying with them every night, kissing them and tucking them in.
I miss checking on them in the soft moon light and watching them sleep.
I miss getting them all ready for church, and the chaos of getting out the door on time.
I miss watching them play in the backyard, washing dirty clothes and folding endless laundry.
I miss their bad dreams and long nights.
I miss being exhausted from those long nights, because they were there next to me so I could keep them safe.
I miss hearing them fight and watching them make up.
I miss their snuggles, love notes and hand written coupons on every special occasion for “extra kisses and hugs”.
I miss telling them to pick up their toys and clean their rooms every single day.
I miss cheering them on for every sport activity or band performance.
I miss being at the school to help them with costumes or watch Christmas plays or bring in birthday snacks.
I miss the magic of Christmas morning and the fun of Easter baskets.
I miss their smell, their laughter, their endless questions.

I miss them needing me.

Everything you think is so wonderful and everything you think is so very hard~

Young mama~ that’s what I miss.

And someday when they are grown and married and you wonder what they’ve been up to and how they are, when you wish you could spend just a little more time or talk a little longer, when they tell you they are busy or laugh and say you’re being nosey~

You remember this day.
Today.
Today when you get to do all the hard stuff.
Because at the end of today~ you get to hold them close, you get to feel their soft kisses and hear their little declarations of love.

And tomorrow mama, tomorrow you get to do it all over again,

until the tomorrow comes when you don’t get to anymore.