....it goes so fast doesn't it?
I find the more years I gather behind me, the more I try and savour things.
It pays to just press the pause button on the remote of life once in a while, to just savour a moment......and remember it.
Big Bear and Middle Bear were born within 14 months of each other. Big Bear was two and a half pounds at birth, and Middle Bear was nine pounds at birth. People mistook them for twins. Life was hectic.......hard going.....and exhausting when they were young. They each had their own problems and I found I went through their early years, just 'getting though it'. I realised that when they hit 4 and 5, I had never really stopped to savour and remember what they were like as toddlers. It became all a bit of a blur. When Baby bear came along, I told myself that I was going to savour every moment.....even the tough ones. It's easier these days I suppose. We have every easy gadget available for recording moments of our lives. No phones with cameras and video recording devices in those days. Actually, no digital cameras either. Just blurry film shots. Blogs too, to record images and memories. It's so much easier these days to stop, savour.......and remember.
Just the little things can bring happines. Lazy sunday brunch. A moment in time. Pots of endless coffee, with its beautiful warming aroma, wafting throughout the house. Strong tea too, in huge cups to wash down ciabatta bacon rolls with scrambled eggs. Hearing children running about throughout the house, laughing.......bickering too. Crochet blankets, their soft ripples cosy to the touch. Feeling all of my senses are heightened and satisfied with all that is going on around me. Ever feel that? That one moment, maybe fleeting, when you feel utterly satisfied with life?
Feeling lucky to have what I have. I don't have a big house, fancy car or pots of money.......but I feel rich. Riches aren't measured in how much money you have. I have my health and my family. I'd say that's a pretty rich life.....and I am taking nothing for granted. At this moment I am happy and content.
A lazy sunday I want to savour........and remember.
xxx
You're right, we rush through life and sometimes it feels as if we have no choice but to do so. Maybe it's one of the good things about getting older that there are a few more opportunities to pause and appreciate all the good things around us. Philippa xx
ReplyDeleteYes Philippa, there are more opportunities to just stop and reflect the older one gets!
DeleteI agree with Philippa - getting older can have advantages... When I was young, I was career-obsessed, I wanted everything right there & then... Now, it's the small things that can really make me happy... ( I'm a big fan of lazy sundays too !)
ReplyDeleteIngrid
I think blogging has helped enormously too. To learn to stop and look at the little things that otherwise may get missed has been really good for the soul! x
DeleteWhat a great post - it is true that it is the small things that make us happy and not the big houses, money and flash cars. I have five beautiful, funny and kind children who bring me no end of pleasure. They are what make my life rich. You are right we must savour the moments as time goes by so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI often sit with my bears and just close my eyes listening to them chattering away to each other and remembering what it feels like. Baby Bear told me on saturday that he had had the most lovely morning. We weren't doing anything special, just hanging out and spending time together.My heat melted. It's those little moments......
DeleteYou are so right, and I am so glad that you are able to take the time to savour your moments in time. Hope that you can spend some more time doing just that over the coming week. xx
ReplyDeleteHa ha, well my week is mega jam packed! Here's hoping so! x
DeleteI had some tricky early years with my children, too, and without referring to photos or videos, many of those memories are about just surviving the day. I have vague recollections of blurry emotions - exceptional happiness, extreme worry, utter exhaustion, glorious joy - rather than specific events. But now that they're that bit older, I'm savouring the days and moments much more, and like you, it's the little things that stand out in my mind, the simple things that make me feel most content. My youngest and I shared an impromptu bacon sarnie at the garden centre this morning, and we had so much fun just enjoying the time, it was the best bacon sarnie I think I've ever had. Here's to appreciating life! Chrissie x
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite parts of the day is walking Baby Bear to school. We have the best chats....some silly and some really deep! We laugh and tell jokes. We do addition and spelling, and we play his favourite game of car colour counting. I cherish these moments. x
DeleteSo true and so well written. x
ReplyDeleteThank you Sara x
DeleteThis is a lovely post, I have also learnt to savour the moments in life that I find myself in, both the good and the bad ones... these moments make us who we are. I am so very glad to have my camera, my husband and I have captured some of the most incredible fleeting moments of our lives this year, those memories are locked into pixels of the images (and backed up in as many places as possible) and will provide us with memories of sadness, love and happiness all rolled into one. Heres to savouring the moments xxxx
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Laura....all moments, both good and bad make us the person that we are. Often in sadness we realise our true strengths, and being able to have moments caught in picture can provide memories that will be cherished inside our hearts forever. Yes....here's to savouring these moments xxx
DeleteWhat a beautiful written post. It echoes the thoughts of my own heart! I just wrote a post about the passing of time yesterday on my own blog. It doesn't take much to keep a heart happy, the little things are often the best things in life. I am so glad I found your beautiful blog. What a lovely way to start a day. Blessings and Sunshine, Valerie
ReplyDeleteHello Valerie,
DeleteYou are right, it really doesn't take much! Have a super day! x
Those 'moments in time' when you just 'stop' and think and capture what is important is such a lovely thing...When my daughter was very young 4 months to nearly 2 yrs i found myself in such a whirl wind of events and life was all up in the air...i just got through each day...the best you can ( like you said)...and just hoped i was being a good mum for my daughter. I think it really made me appreciate things more going through all that when Sophia was so young~ I hardly have any photographs from that time...i didn't own a camera and the piccys i have are mainly other members of family who took pictures of my daughter and myself. I was only thinking the other day 'how precious' those moments are when they are young and with all the mod cons now we are ever so lucky...but back then i had nothing other than a blog to record a moment. It made me 'fall in love' with photography when i finally saved to buy a camera all of my own~ l felt like i wanted to record everything...And all those 'Simple little joys'. Money cannot buy time...its making the most of what you have got and not dwelling on what you haven't...i often have to tell myself that!! ;0)x
ReplyDeleteOh yes Kazzy, it's savouring all the little things, the little moments when your daughter makes your heart melt and puts the biggest smile on your face with just a couple of words said. It's enjoying the first cuppa of the morning, and extra 5 minutes in bed, the kind gesture of a stranger, an unexpected smile from someone, a flower sprouting when you thought you were a hopeless gardener! All the little things to savour and appreciate. They make us x
ReplyDeleteI had 3 under 4 years of age - they're now all in their mid 20's. It's been a total blur but I have a store of moments, none captured on digital media, but I can bring them to my mind's eye just as easily as from a folder on my laptop. They're totally amazing people. We too are so lucky. My husband was due to have a major op today but the cardiac consultant needed more tests - better to be safe - I so agreed with him. We so nearly lost my husband in 2010 - but for the prompt and skillful actions of our youngest (then 20) he'd have died in our bed at night. Jack was so cool, so calm and so efficient in his delivery of cpr from instructions over the telephone, until the ambulances arrived in a fleet. I needed my family so much for the week my husband was on a life support machine - they amazed me with their strength of character and wisdom. All the little moments we now share are SO precious - and moments with our family all the more precious as they grow up and make their way in the world - with all the love we can give them.
ReplyDeleteWow, yes these moments are so very precious. Your children sound, amazing, and I bet you are just so very proud of them. I hope that everything goes okay for your husband, you must be so worried at the moment. Much love and thinking of you x
DeleteWell said and well worth remembering.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful words and sentiments. You're right, and I hope you've reached a few people who don't know this already.
ReplyDeleteAmen...... I wish everyday could feel like that, guess its all the more precious when it does
ReplyDeleteKaren x
Hi Vanessa, I loved this post. Yes, it's family and the little things that make us happy, and it's great to record them here. I had premature twins ( then youngest when they were 2 1/2) and spent about seven years just coping. It's really wonderful to have these years with my boys where I also get time for myself and chance to really notice both them growing up and the seasons/flowers/birds etc. I often feel like I have had blinkers on in the past, but I think I was just too busy to notice.
ReplyDeleteHave a good week
Jacquie xxx
Hi Vanessa - you're right, it's so important to savour every moment of every stage of family life. It only seems five minutes since I was where you are but, here I am now, DDs 34 and 32, with homes of their own, and I still don't know where the time has gone. Enjoy! xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous post! I try to savour something good in every day but it's hard at times isn't it when things are so so hectic? x
ReplyDeleteA lovely post that makes me feel happy, thankyou for sharing. xx
ReplyDeleteHappiness can be so simple :-) What a lovely post Vanessa!!
ReplyDeleteLove from Rotterdam,
Madelief x
Lovely post! It is the exact way I have been feeling lately and I can relate to the older kids´ early years being a blur. My third was suppose to be my last (as if we can really plan these things) and then we had our fourth 23 months later. I find myself feeling this contentment more and more as I get older. Savoring the little moments and feeling that utter happiness.
ReplyDeleteVery nice post.
Birgitta xx
What a beautiful post, I feel very much the same. The older the little people get, the more I savour each moment. A healthy, happy family is riches indeed.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest two boys are 13.5 months apart. I know that blur all too well. We knew the youngest of the two was to be our last so I did as you have done with your youngest. Made the most of them being young and stopped to smell to roses as much as life with two under two (plus two teens) would allow.
ReplyDeleteI still don't feel as though I did it enough, but that's just plain old mother guilt.
Wise words my dear, it's only those who stop and savour the little moments in time, who are the richest. I'm loving all your photos, beautiful :) x
ReplyDeleteyes, little by little….!
ReplyDeletexxxxxx Ale
thank you for sharing this wonderful post with us. Im in the last official week of my third pregnancy, if all goes well we will have 3 under the age of 3 not to long from now. We also have 14 months appart between our 2 boys and now 20 months later we are looking forward to boy number 3, life can get so overwhelmingly crazy with work and care and laundry piles and not so tidy kitchen countertops...Its soo easy to forget to enjoy! just as i was feeling a bit in panic this week talking to my husband how much im looking forward for our little one to meet us and to enjoy summer with our little family, your post came along, as if it was just meant to be, thank you soo so much for letting us be part of your live!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely blogpost to read! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! Time is the thing we all want more of, but is hardest to get. I agree that once in a while we just need to stop and appreciate what's around us, the earlier one realizes this the better! xx Carmen
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely words and a timely reminder for me. With four little ones, (the oldest is 11 and the youngest is 8 months) I sometimes get lost in the chaos and craziness of it all! Then I remember how fleeting it is, how quickly they grow up. Being a mother is such a privilege. Thanks for the gentle reminder x
ReplyDeleteA lovely blog lost. I can totally relate to your words, we nearly lost our eldest daughter when she was a baby, ever since I try to stop and savour the little fleeting moments as much as I can, but time goes so fast. I feel rich in love and lucky for all both my daughters have given me, good and bad.
ReplyDeleteLovely words and as the Mum of a now 15 year old that started life two months prem I realise just how fast time flies! She has been my most precious gift and has taught me the importance of being in the moment :) Enjoy all your moments..you are indeed rich beyond measure <3 xx
ReplyDeleteLovely sentiments, beautifully expressed! xx
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I think you and I are in the same season of life right now. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite.
ReplyDeleteYour lovely words really hit home. I have one little boy who was born seven weeks early and is going to start school in September. The last four and a half years have gone so quickly and have been filled with some of the greatest highs but also some very difficult moments as we have struggled to get a diagnosis for his autism. I have been thinking a lot about the need to slow down a bit and really try and enjoy and savour these last few months before school statrs and really enjoy the summer months together and your post made me realise that I'm not alone in this. Victoria xxx
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