Just One More…

Currently, I am sitting here in tears!

It’s just one of those days where the tears are sitting on the surface, just waiting to come cascading down my face. at any point, and for no reason at all.
Nothing is wrong, I am okay, it’s just a teary kind of day!

And so what has triggered these tears?
I think it was the fact that I saw a picture on Instagram of a friend reading to her toddler, and all of a sudden it dawned on me, I no longer get to read my kid’s bedtime stories!
I know right? Crazy! I haven’t read my kids’ bedtime stories for over 10 years but for some reason today, I am grieving the loss of that season.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely loving the season we are in. Having Adult kids is the best! And in the season our family is growing and that excites me beyond words, but for some reason today, I miss the “reading to your kids season”

I have so many great memories of lying on the kids’ beds with them reading to them. We would snuggle up and they would sit as close to me as they could (aka sitting right on top of me!) and we would read book after book, after book.

From Dr Suess to Enid Blyton to everything in between. I can not tell you how many hours we have spent reading together. As Dr Suess might say

I would read about a house.
I would read about a mouse.
I would read about a goat.
I would read about a boat.
I would read to them here or there.
I would read to them anywhere.

We would read upon on the bed.
We would read it on our head.
We would read it in the rain
We would read it on a train.
We would read it here or there.
We would read it anywhere!

Oh, how I miss those days!
“Just one more Mum. Please Mum, Just one more. Pretty please, just one more Mum.”

If I was in a good mood, just one more was on the cards, but if I was tired, that was the end of the stories.
And I think my heart is aching today because now I have no more chances for “just one more”

As I look back, I wonder what was so important that I couldn’t read just one more.
Was it the dishes waiting in the sink?
Was it that a tv program was calling my name?
Was it that I was just too tired for one more?

Oh, how I wish I had read just one more when I had the chance. How I wish I had known that season wouldn’t last forever and one day there would be no more asking for just one more. I think if I had known at the time it was my last ever “just one more” I would have read to them till I went hoarse, no matter what time of night it was!

But instead of wallowing about what is no longer, I will cherish those memories and be present at the moment now, so that I do not miss any “just one more” moments.

So Mums of littlies, can I encourage you, this season, this very tough season you are walking through at the moment, will not last forever! This too shall pass, and one day there will be no more “just one more.”

So Mums, please hug your little one a little tighter for me and read them just one more while you have the chance!