With a spread like that, you know Mama and the girls are doing their day off right.
Courtesy of Sarah Shrader
Ever since school has started back up, I feel like we have been running around like crazy – not only almost every night of the week, but also on the weekends. From cheerleading to all the fun fall activities, it has been chaotic. Do you ever have it where you get going so fast that you feel like it has been a while since you just stopped and enjoyed the present?
Well, that is what happened to me last Monday morning. We had done all the fun things over the weekend – hit a local pumpkin patch, climbed all the jungle gyms, slid down all the slides, fed the goats, zipped the lines and rode the hayride. And yet, I felt like I hadn’t actually sat down next to my girls and spent some quality time together.
I don’t know – maybe it also had to do with the fact that I was out of town for a few weeks for work, but for some reason, last Monday, I just really missed my kiddos. So, I decided on a whim to take a random Monday afternoon off of work.
I didn’t have any big plans – heck, I was literally just winging it. I mean, I had only decided to do it on that day. It wasn’t even like it was a random beautiful, sunny day. On the contrary, it was quite dreary and chilly. But it didn’t matter, because I knew we would make the best of it.
Picking them up from school was first on the list. The surprise and scream from Maylie along with the confusion and smirk from Reagan as they ran out of school, saw me and hugged me could have alone made my afternoon. You see, it is rare that I get to pick them up – and it is never on a Monday.
From there, we hit our favorite snack stop and picked up drinks and treats – you know, all the sugary stuff – and headed home. I had already pushed the love seat up to meet the couch so we could all snuggle together. Kicking off our shoes and leaving the bookbags and homework for later, we put on sweatpants and comfy shirts and made the unhealthiest smorgasbord I had ever seen right there in the living room (the forbidden room to eat in – which made it all so much sweeter).
For the next 3-4 hours, my girls and I snuggled up under warm blankets, stuffing our faces with candy, popcorn and chips while watching two of our favorite Halloween movies. Instead of worrying about assignments that needed to be complete or the next work task in front of us, we just let it all go and soaked up the time of togetherness and freedom – nothing like a Monday normally feels like.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was still rather difficult for Reagan to sit still that long. So there were moments of her flopping from one piece of furniture to the other while stepping all over Maylie and me. Not to mention the half of a movie that she watched while pretending to fall off the back of the out of place loveseat, but she still hung out every second with us.
And guys, it was exactly what all three of us needed – just a few-hour break from all of the crazy and chaos that sometimes life throws at us. This season of life, it is busy! And with the holidays around the corner, there is no slow down really in sight. But honestly, I feel like life is always busy. There is always something lingering in the upcoming days, weeks and months that keeps us running, fast-paced, through the everyday motions.
Not only did I get to soak up all the snuggles and fill my cup full of quality time spent with my girls that day, but I truly hope that they pulled out of our lazy afternoon that sometimes we all can use a break from everything. Sure, they now want to do it every day, ha! But, that’s the secret to it – doing it only once in a while makes it that much sweeter.
Life is busy, crazy, chaotic at best sometimes. But it is also so, so sweet. And my only wish is that these baby girls never forget that when life seems to be flying by way too fast, that they can always take the time to push pause, grab all of the snacks, throw on some sweatpants and snuggle up for an afternoon break on the couch.
And if I am lucky, they will remember this magical time that we spent together. And even when they are older and way cooler, they will still want to invite me to the slow down.
Sarah (Pitson) Shrader was born and raised in Lima. She is a Lima Central Catholic and Tiffin University graduate. Sarah is a full-time working mama who enjoys writing about her somewhat crazy, always adventurous life as a mother. She lives in Bath Township with her daughters and writing inspirations, Maylie and Reagan.
