This Too Shall Pass

Dear Tired, Stressed Out, In-Much-Need-Of-A-Shower Mom,

You were up every hour last night nursing a teething baby.  Cringing from the bites, cringing from the time on the clock, cringing from the remnants of the baby weight on your tummy.

This too shall pass.

You walked into Target with three smiling little tots.  You were just running in for some laundry detergent and some milk.  You walked out without laundry detergent, without milk, and with a screaming two year old and a sobbing infant.

This too shall pass.

You are sitting with ice on your foot after having stepped on yet another Lego in the dark.  You have a black eye from where you were hit with the corner of a book.  Your hair hasn’t been colored in ages, and you smell the distinct odor of urine coming from the wet stain the baby left on your shirt.

This too shall pass.

And you sit there,  becauseyou wanted a moment of peace, and your little one tottled her way upon your lap.  Tired, exhausted, you look into her eyes just as she plants an open-mouthed baby kiss right on your eye.  You laugh.  She laughs.  But her laugh is that full body baby belly laugh.  The kind that can melt the stoniest of hearts.

This too shall pass.

You tell your toddler she can’t eat the cat poop in the litter box.  She throws herself hysterically on the ground crying, but then she has to get up and come cuddle with you because even though you are the person she is angry at, you too are the only person who can calm her stress.

This too shall pass.

She steals secret waves as she stands in the line waiting to enter school.  He brings you pretend cupcake after cupcake, delighting in each excited pretend nibble you take.  He has filled your refrigerator door with masterpieces colored “just for you.”  She learns that “to cherish” means to love, so she excitedly tells you that “you are cherishing together” as you unload the dishwasher.

In every day and in every way, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, this too shall pass.  It will fade away into the night as baby yawns become toddler dreams turn into big kid slumber.  All of it.  Every little bit.  This too shall pass.

Hold onto it.  Cherish it.  Let go of the bad and cling to the beautiful.  Create memories that will warm your bones when it has all, indeed, passed.

These times are for fatigue and stress and messy houses and messy hair.  But they are also for love and snuggles and tender looks of pure, innocent joy.  They are for memories.  They are for the stories you will tell into your old age.  They are for the moments you will want to bring with you into eternity.

Cherish them all.  Every single little baby breath.  Live them.  Smell them.  Breathe them.

Because this too shall pass.