As we prepare for Mothers day this weekend, I thought it was appropriate to share a mother son story for which I am so grateful.
A week after I left my corporate job, my 6 year old son came to snuggle in my chair with me. He said, “Mommy, I don’t want to be cold”. I sweetly said to him, “Oh buddy, you don’t have to be cold, let’s snuggle here under the blanket.” He repeated again, “But mommy, I don’t want to be cold”. At this point, I didn’t know what it was that he was really wanting. What I knew was:
– He wanted to snuggle and
– He had just interrupted my meditation and morning routine.
How many of you find yourself doing your normal morning routine only to get interrupted?
It initially puts us off track! As we begin to think about the other things that need to happen in the day, that will now be off because of having to deal with this particular situation. But this morning, I wasn’t in a hurry to be anywhere. I wasn’t worried about the next meeting I needed to go to, or the next activity on my list, so I allowed myself to be present in the moment with him. I knew there was something else going on but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then my husband came back upstairs and I shared with him what was going on. He said, “Oh its Wed and its late day. I take Andy to school early and drop him off around 845, but they won’t let the kids into school until 905 the earliest.” I looked at my little baby and started to cry. It was SUPER cold outside. I don’t want to be outside for 2 minutes, let alone 20 minutes standing in the cold. I weeped for my son. I weeped that I didn’t know he stood out in the cold. I felt so happy that I now had the opportunity to take him to school. I could do things I wasn’t able to do before because of my corporate job.
I made a commitment to my son. We would have a date every Wed morning and I would drive him to school. I would even drop him off in the front. Big smiles lit up in Andy’s face as he knew that he was going to spend more time with mom and that he didn’t have to be cold.
When was the last time you stopped and allowed yourself to just be in the present moment with no expectations? The next time your child interrupts you or something doesn’t go as planned, take a pause. STOP AND NOTICE what lesson might be there for you in that moment. Sometimes our children can be wiser than we are. They are teachers for us, just as much as we are teachers for them.