This week saw me struck down with a rotten cold. And while I
am quick to tease my husband Eddie about man-flu, I am woman enough to admit I
one big giant sook when it comes to being sick. Yet thankfully being snot
riddled did bring with it a timely lesson, so it wasn’t all in vain. Yes, being
sick forced me to slow down. I am
always struggling with overload. Too
many commitments, too many jobs to do and not enough time to do them all in;
well at least not in a composed, cool, calm and collected fashion. My life
feels frantic.
So being ill forced me to prioritise and just do bare
minimum for the day. We ditched music group, the kids and I stayed in pjs well
past lunch time and I didn’t do any housework beyond the dishes and a couple
loads of washing. The rest I decided could wait.
Caden took some snacks outside and we chatted as I hung up
the washing. Leona rested peacefully inside and when I’d finished I sat down
with Caden and we talked and laughed and made some videos of each other on my
phone. I looked at his sweet little
freckle spattered face and thought about how his features all told a story of
generations gone by. It was so nice to sit out in the sunshine and just be. I realised that these simple moments
are the most precious. When you are a
parent, the days are long but the years are short. Our lives had become way
over- scheduled and it was all my own doing. We didn’t need to be sooo busy all
the time.
The next day I was no longer knocking on death’s door and
practicalities set in. We were out of milk and cat food and I needed
ingredients for that night’s dinner. So
the three of us got ready and headed down to the shops.
I decided to forgo the trolley, as usually the ones with the
baby capsules are all taken, and besides I didn’t need that many groceries
anyway. I put Leona in her pram and
Caden tagged along on foot. That was my first mistake. My basket filled up
quickly and became rather heavy. Caden decided he wanted to ride on the front
of the pram and make faces at Leona which was fine except for the fact that he
was so heavy I could no longer steer the darn thing. So there I was growling at
the 4 year old, carting around an overly full shopping basket and attracting
knowing and sympathetic stares from other shoppers.
We were making our way through the checkout when Leona
started to cry. She was a little unsettled as she’d caught my cold. I payed for
the shopping before lugging the awkward and weighty shopping bags over to a
nearby seat. Caden started whinging relentlessly that he wanted a donut from
the bakery. I took Leona out of the pusher to comfort her when out of nowhere
she power chucked all over me and the floor. Oh My God. She obviously felt much
better because immediately she was all smiles again. I wiped up the milky vomity mess with some
baby wipes, strapped her back in, picked up the heavy shopping, yelled at Caden
“no I do not have $2 for the Thomas the Tank Engine ride so get off because we’re
going” and headed out the automatic doors.
We got outside and being a typical Melbourne day the weather
had changed from sunshine to rain in the space of an hour. It was a torrential
downpour. Well, this was enough to send me over the edge. The swear words I had
been muttering under my breath were now being uttered out loud and with
reckless abandon. I laughed scornfully at my romantic notions of yesterday as I
dragged myself, the two kids and the shopping to the other side of the car
park.
A few hours and a couple of stiff drinks later, I was able
to contemplate the events of the last two days with an objective mind. And my
conclusion was this: the cliché that parenting is one of the most challenging
and rewarding tasks you can ever undertake is indeed true. Parenting is a verb
and when done properly it is a lifelong labour of love. Every single day
presents frustrations, irritations and annoyances but the days are also
interspersed with precious moments, gems to be cherished for the rest of our
lives. Moments that we will savour and reminisce about when the children are no
longer children and we are old and grey.
Having a child is like entering a mineshaft. It can be a long and arduous journey. Some days are dark and difficult but the glimmers of gold are what keep you going. You have to get your hands dirty to reap the rewards. Rewards, such as when Caden sings the wrong lyrics to the Gotye song : “but you didn’t have to cut me up” or the way Leona's face breaks into a huge grin when she sees me first thing in the morning.
Having a child is like entering a mineshaft. It can be a long and arduous journey. Some days are dark and difficult but the glimmers of gold are what keep you going. You have to get your hands dirty to reap the rewards. Rewards, such as when Caden sings the wrong lyrics to the Gotye song : “but you didn’t have to cut me up” or the way Leona's face breaks into a huge grin when she sees me first thing in the morning.
It's important to
stop sometimes and just take note of these gold moments. Drink them in and relish them. These
priceless moments are what make the mundane, tedious and even the “I’m about to
lose my shit’” type of days so very very worthwhile. And when we look back on this journey it's these moments that we will want to remember the most.
