With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is incredibly easy to overlook the little things. The cup of coffee we left on the counter, the wallet that we left in our other pants, forgetting to get the address for our destination are all things that get overlooked when we are in a hurry. And while these things are annoying when we do realize that we missed or forgot them, it is a simple solution to fix and be on our way. But another thing we tend to overlook sometimes is our kids. How often are we telling them to hold on because we are busy? They come up to play at some inopportune times. Don’t miss these moments, these are the little moments that they will remember! I’ll say it again. Don’t miss the little moments!
This past Easter, we were running around the house getting ready to go to my in-laws for dinner. We were running late, as usual, and I was focused on getting the kids ready to go and the pets taken care of while my wife was finishing up the side dish we were bringing. During all the commotion, our 2 year old ran to me and pointed to the speaker so I could put on music. She then stood in front of me waiting to dance. I was so focused on running late that I was trying to just get her out of the way.
It was then that I thought: how many other moments have I missed? How many memories did I not make because I was too busy or too focused on something else? The kids will always remember that we play with them, but those will be memories that just blur together since it is a common thing. But these moments, these are the ones that make the lasting memories. So I stopped what I was doing. I told Google to play “The Fire and the Flood” by Vance Joy. That is the girls’ favorite song. I picked my daughter up and we danced.
Now that is a memory that won’t be jumbled with all the normal everyday memories. I’m not the most attentive person. Things get by me all the time. It isn’t intentional. But it does make me miss quite a bit. So I am on a mission to stop missing these little moments so I can make memories with my girls that will last them a lifetime. Because when you are already late, what is a few more minutes?
