Remember THOSE days, but don’t forget THESE days

It is so much easier to take lots of pictures when your kids are little.
You get their messy, little faces when they eat spaghetti.
You capture them coloring their favorite picture, playing with playdough, wrestling with their daddy.
You hear from every mama out there how time flies by and you don’t want to miss a moment.
So you listen to them, and you document it.
And then your kids are suddenly grown.
They aren’t wrestling, coloring or making a mess of their spaghetti.
So your camera sits in the other room…because, really. What are you going to take a picture of?

Here is the funny thing about parenting though.
These moments right now? The ones that include more video games, more hanging out and talking, less “camera worthy” moments?
THESE will someday become “Those days”!!
These days will be gone soon too, and the moments you just came to see as normal, or maybe even annoying will be gone.
And you’ll wish you had one more day of it.
You’ll wish you could see that hat that your oldest always wears, just sitting on the counter.
You’ll wish that you could see your teenage son laying on the couch on his phone one more time.
In YOUR house, not his own.
On YOUR couch, not his own.
You’ll wish that you could watch your son making lunch with YOUR food, making a mess on YOUR counter…because one day, it will seem so quiet without him in it.

So here is my challenge to you today.
Don’t forget THESE days.
This day.
Right now.
Get up. Take some pictures. Take pictures of the seemingly mundane, but still…YOUR life.
YOUR family.
YOUR normal.
Every moment we have becomes a memory.
Every mess, every noise, every thing.
It is a part of our story.
It is a part of who we are.
So document it.
You might think you’ll never forget it, but you will.
Hold on tightly to it and enjoy every second.