When the Mom Ache Hits, This is How I Feel Better

(Inside: Mom, feel better about how way-too-fast the time goes with our kids, by doing this one powerful and easy form of therapy. Read on…)

When the it-all-goes-too-fast mom ache hits, I found my therapy. One thing that makes me feel better.

But, let back up.

I’d been going through photos. So many cherished moments flipped in front of me.

There were the play years – tiny bodies in swings, hands shaping playdough, and toddlers in an eruption of toys. Then, the first sports photos – tiny cleats, too-big jerseys, and a ball the size of a moon. And sweet pictures – puckered lips on sleeping faces, little bellies rounding out onesies, and family snuggles.

Each gorgeous memory sliced at my heart. A thousand tiny paper cuts.

As a mom of big kids, I deeply longed to step into the photos and hold those babies again. I closed my eyes, clicked my heels, and made a wish, but time stood firm in its decision to stay in the present.

So, I tried something different.

Something better.

I found my one middle schooler and two high schoolers and asked each if they wanted to spend one-on-one time with me.

We made plans around burgers and coffee and basketball games. My sadness turned into excitement over the upcoming weekend.

Then, I had a great time with each son. But with one in particular, sitting across the table scooping out ice cream created that magical moment that parents hope for where the teen opens up all of their words and lets them flow. Opinions, feelings, thoughts, they saturated the room, and I couldn’t get enough. I learned more about my kid.

For moms, it stinks how fast time goes. The mom ache is actual physical pain that crashes at our hearts like a tsunami hits the shore.

However, the pain also washes up good.

It brings in with the waves the present, laying it in front of me so I actually see it…
shoes by the doors,
dinners on repeat,
taxing kids,
cheering at games,
and everyone hanging out at home.
Beautiful chaos that I love.

I’m reminded that someday I will look back at the pictures of my big kids, and I will deeply long to be here. With my house full of middle and high schoolers

When the it-all-goes-too-fast mom ache hits, I found my therapy: hanging out with the current version of my kids. Because the gift moms always have is what’s right in front of us – our stunningly gorgeous present.

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Join this community of moms who understand the mom ache and find ways to feel better.

Your brain bounces between your day at work, what time(s) your kids need to be at practice, your teen’s missing school assignments, that you haven’t called your mom lately, the load of the laundry to be switched, “What’s for dinner?” and “Why are 3 of my brain-tabs frozen?” 

You are raising tweens and teens and college-age kids – the unique parenting phase where everything gets easier…and harder.

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