Every 4th of July, (like every good American mother)…I went to Old Navy to get all four of our kids matching shirts. They complained about it endlessly…rolled their eyes…but still…they endured😬.
Tomorrow, for the first time ever…I don’t have my son here with his Dad…getting excited about blowing things up☹️. They would go every year to the firework stand and buy some things…not anything near what some people spend…but still…we usually enjoyed a little celebration.
This year…we are to old for the growing worms, the snaps on the ground, and possibly the smoke bombs. There might be a lantern, possibly some day parachutes…but the baby in the diaper eating watermelon are gone. The days of sticky fingers after s’mores are gone. The crying of fireworks, the trash in piles everywhere the next morning…it’s all gone…and I’m a little sad.
No huge pool floaters…no stand together for a big picture…no fighting…just one kid to watch in the pool, one child to do fireworks with…and one child to entertain…
We have a daughter in Ireland, a son in Alabama, another one here in town but busy…and then we have our 12 year old.
I don’t say this to make you feel sorry for me . I’m really fine…with less work and less whine…but I did want to say…that if your a momma of littles.
Be in the picture…play in the pool…eat a s’mores with them, and dance with the sparklers. Kiss their cheeks until you can’t kiss them anymore…record their sweet voices, and don’t worry about the mess…
Live your life one beautiful moment at a time. It will never be perfect…it will never be the way you had imagined…but work with what ya got!!!
The Reluctant Red Nose 