Why the Unplanned Moments Are the Best Moments (Day 5)

I was going to write a summary of our busy weekend because, well, it's felt so busy that I haven't had much time to think about the deeper things of life. It's been all the usual-- a chorus concert, yard work, house clean up, laundry, grocery shopping, upcoming birthday shopping for my big girl, a birthday party on Saturday night to celebrate my big girl and her grandpa (Scott's dad), church this morning (Scott got there early to play with the worship team), a few more errands and then here we are...

4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon...with my toes at the precipice of the next week...the first full week in June.

The week that begins the "crazy" month as we often call it.

For us June is the last month of our school year. It's also the month that happens to host Ava's birthday, Scott's birthday (his 40th this year!), my birthday (41!), my grandmother's birthday, Scott's dad's birthday, my brother's birthday (the same day as Scott-he's also turning 40!), Father's Day, dance recitals, chorus and band concerts, field trips and end of school celebrations and field days galore!

Whoooeeeee!

I know many of you are already starting summer vacation in your parts-- that May was your crazy month and now you are already neck deep in summer vacation fun/chaos/fun/chaos mode. I'll pray for you if you pray for me (; That we all have the energy, grace, and enough coffee stock piled for all of these fantabulous memory making moments!

But, something happened this afternoon that made me pause to relish in the sweet blessing of an unplanned moment. A moment I realized that was one of my very favorite of the weekend.

About an hour ago I came downstairs from taking my daily 20 minute "nap" (Yes friends,  I set the timer on my clock for 20 minutes everyday and close my eyes...I now consider it necessary to my survival as a mom and think everyone should give it a try!).

I made a latte as I often do in the afternoon and planned to head back up to our bedroom to put away the oodles and oodles of clothes that are laying around our bedroom-- clean laundry, dirty laundry, needs to be ironed laundry...you know. As I stood in the kitchen frothing milk I noticed the sun had finally come out and decided I would take my latte out to the front porch and just sit in the sun for a few minutes because sunshine is very good for this girl's soul and it's been scarce lately.

Within two minutes of sitting on the porch I heard the familiar pitter patter of my six year old in the hallway heading towards the front door. I knew she would find me, and kind of hoped that she would. She came outside, pink bow flip flops on, her pink sparkly sun glasses, and a Capri Sun juice box in her hands.

"Hi Momma."

"Hi, sweet girl. You want to come and sit with me?"

I patted the concrete next to me on the porch. "I'm just watching the birds and sitting in the sun-- it's so nice."

"It is so nice," she responded kind nostalgically, which made me laugh.

She popped her straw into her Capri Sun and looked out at the street. She doesn't sit still for very long though, and popped up within seconds.

"Watch momma!"

Over the next 5 minutes I watched her balance across the rocks that edge the garden bed in front of our house, run multiple laps around the front yard, swing from a tree branch, and then run some more laps. She told me she wanted me to see how fast she was.

She finally came and sat back down next to me. "Ahhhhh," she said, taking another sip of her juice.

She gave me a hug, squeezing me tight. I squeezed back- staring at the braided pigtails that Ava put in her hair during church this morning when she wouldn't sit still and needed to be preoccupied. Staring at the freckles on her face, and realizing, especially because she is my youngest, how fleeting and fast these days truly are. I soaked up her balancing act, her lap running and her silly front porch acrobatics.

She's only this age once. I felt the weight of the reality and we sat a little longer. 

Adding caption to this picture

And this, I then thought, is my very favorite moment of this day. 

This beautiful moment wasn't on my to-do list...it was one of these moments that I would have completely missed if I had opted for the laundry over a few minutes in the sun. And yet, there it was. My very favorite moment of the day, sitting on the front porch with my latte and my six year old soaking up the sun. I silently thanked God for the many blessings (especially my children) that I so often forget to thank Him for in the middle of our busy days.

We stayed out there for just a few more minutes and then we came back inside because the laundry was still waiting for me, but I started at my computer and realized if I didn't write this all down now I might not ever get around to it and so instead of the laundry I opted to type this blog post.

So NOW, I'm going to put the bazillion items of clothing away in my bedroom. At least I think I am...unless some other unplanned moment with one of my three children pulls me in another direction. Because the reality is the laundry will always be there, but as all of the wisest women have ever told me the days are short, but the years go so fast...

So today I'm decided to linger a little longer in the slow...