flies.
yesterday i met the coolest woman. she came over to ask me photography questions, and actually ended up giving me fabulous parental advice.
she said something that made me laugh. "i love that your house looks lived in." i thought, "is there any other way? how can anyone hide the madness?" she said she could tell we had our priorities straight just loving these kids to death while they're little. it was uplifting.
i did ask myself, what exactly gives our home that look? is it the baskets of laundry? the unfinished floors and rollerblade mud tracks? the animal fur? shall i go on...?
dirt around the door handles. spilled milk crusties in fridge. freshly spackled holes in the walls. art supplies and old paint marks on the table. random baby stroller floating around. flies.
oh, the flies. not a window in the house has a single screen. poor molly was trying to keep cool while covering her nose. is it sad that i thought, "oh, flies" not, "what is she doing?"
we don't have a back-door shutting rule (thus flies). or a shoes off in the house rule (thus dirt). or a feet off the kitchen counter rule (thus...disease?). i'm thankful they go places with these rules, so thankful, because they've got to learn them somewhere, sometime.
but not here. not now. now's the time and here's the place to learn trust, love, faith, and goodness. and to know childhood's magic.
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly. Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows."
-President Thomas S. Monson, Finding Joy in the Journey
she said something that made me laugh. "i love that your house looks lived in." i thought, "is there any other way? how can anyone hide the madness?" she said she could tell we had our priorities straight just loving these kids to death while they're little. it was uplifting.
i did ask myself, what exactly gives our home that look? is it the baskets of laundry? the unfinished floors and rollerblade mud tracks? the animal fur? shall i go on...?
dirt around the door handles. spilled milk crusties in fridge. freshly spackled holes in the walls. art supplies and old paint marks on the table. random baby stroller floating around. flies.
oh, the flies. not a window in the house has a single screen. poor molly was trying to keep cool while covering her nose. is it sad that i thought, "oh, flies" not, "what is she doing?"
we don't have a back-door shutting rule (thus flies). or a shoes off in the house rule (thus dirt). or a feet off the kitchen counter rule (thus...disease?). i'm thankful they go places with these rules, so thankful, because they've got to learn them somewhere, sometime.
but not here. not now. now's the time and here's the place to learn trust, love, faith, and goodness. and to know childhood's magic.
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly. Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows."
-President Thomas S. Monson, Finding Joy in the Journey
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