Last Sunday night our kiddos stayed out well past when the street lights came on riding scooters with neighborhood friends. Yes, of course, with adult supervision. They played ‘dog chasing cat’, something about a force field, hooted and hollered and came in sweaty messes of pure childhood fun. 

It was the perfect way to spend the ‘last Sunday night ’ of summer. 

This Sunday evening book bags will be packed and clocks will be monitored to ensure a reasonable bedtime. We will be excited and nervous.  Quickly the lazy days of summer will melt into the hecticness of school year routines, sports and activities. And despite making a conscious effort not to over-schedule, there will be days where it feels like I only speak to my kids in orders. 

I dread this time of year. 

Yes as a stay-at-home parent I look forward to breakfasts that don’t last 3 hours, and of course during sibling fights I have yearned for this in fleeting moments. As a type-A personality I function MUCH better as a human being on a schedule. But if there’s anything that being a mom has taught me, especially a mom of three, it’s that all that rigidity can sometimes dull the magic.   

Magic that already doesn’t last forever. 

As I prepare to send my kiddos off to school this year I will pray for their safety, their health, and for them to learn with open hearts and open minds. I will hope for lasting friendships and good report cards. And as much as I will push them with with a mother’s best intention to make the honor roll, learn their sight words, and be physically active doing something that lights their hearts on fire, I will always pray for mindfulness for me. Not just for patience during those terrible math word problems and during the 3,000th reminder of where to hang their baseball bag. But for mindfulness to let them be kids. To allow them to have downtime. To allow them to work through boredom. To make mistakes. To play dress up. To ride scooters and play make believe.

To allow the magic of childhood not to be dulled by the pressures of the world we live in.

And I will pray the same for you too, Mama.

Seas the crazy. ❤️