Regrets

Life is life and it will always be busy. That is something we cannot escape. I can take the occasional vacation to move away from the hecticness of life...but that is the exception not the rule. How can I create an environment free of regrets in my day to day life? Here are some examples:

I will never regret leaving an unswept floor to read to my three year old.
I will regret sweeping my floor and telling my three year old "later"
I will never regret cuddling with my children in the morning.
I will regret packing our days so jam full that morning cuddles are prohibited from happening.
I will never regret baking and teaching my children how to bake cookies, even if the mess is unavoidable
I will regret baking alone, to avoid a mess, and stare at a perfectly clean kitchen while my kids watch tv in the other room.
I will never regret pulling games out of the closet even if it means that there is no organization in there, EVER
I will regret opening up a perfectly organized game closet and know we never had the time to play them.
I will never regret sitting in the sun to eat our ice cream cones first
I will regret making my child sit at the table to finish every last pea for two hours because, " I said so"
I will never regret watching my children dump legos all over their hiding place and never quite being finished
I will regret constantly having them clean it up so that it feel "neat" to me while their creations break apart
I will never regret a fridge covered in drawings and paintings and reminders
I will regret a shiny fridge with all the drawings tucked away in their "special" folders

I will never regret the days that I spend reading, playing, holding, kissing, laughing, correcting, teaching and watching my children. I will never regret not quite having the house perfect so that I could spend more time with my children. I will regret if my choices reflect a lifestyle that is not for this season. Organization is important, trust me, I am organized. Yet, I am praying that God will continue to show me this year, what does organization, in this season, look like to me. My time with my children is too precious- I hate regrets, therefore, I will make choices now so that I can look back with beautiful memories- my mind will not remember a messy kitchen, cluttered closets, unmade beds or poopy diapers. My mind, will remember the clamor of children running through the halls, the crashing of legos being dumped everywhere, Winnie the Pooh bellowing over the cd player every morning, babbling from baby Hanns and memories, oh the memories. Breathe, mamas, life is to be experienced, not to be rushed. Just breathe.