One of my co-workers recently said, "We all have the same amount of time. Each of us has the same amount of time as Bill Gates, but we all choose to use it differently." Yes, we all have the same amount of time in a day, a week, a month, or a year; but, how we fill that time is unique to our lives. I choose to fill my time with my full-time day job, volunteering opportunities at my children's school, teaching swim lessons, writing, and reading mostly.
Tonight, though, I let my daughter lead the way. She's already a high-maintenance kiddo at eight years old and loves the opportunity to get her nails painted, but she likes even more painting my nails. Several years ago she found some pink nail polish and I allowed her to paint my nails. I had finger nail polish all the way to my knuckle, but she was proud - and I showed it off on Facebook. This evening, she went all out for the experience of having a spa-like treatment at home. The petite little girl carried a bucket of hot water from our bathtub to the living room so that I could soak my feet while she painted my fingernails! Her attention to an ABC pattern was extreme and of course rounded out my nails with sparkles.
Her engagement in making me feel like a princess was wonderful - aside from her throwing my book on the ground (I thought we were just doing toes). I sat and relaxed while she attended to my fingers and my toes and I focused only on my breath while cherishing her willingness to create a special bond between us. Then it was my turn to paint her fingers and toes. And it was her idea to match. :)
Sometimes, I get wrapped up in the horrible things I have going on - stress at work, trying to sell a house, having a swollen optic nerve, and fighting a chesty (is that even a word to describe it?!) illness for a month - that I forget to appreciate the small, ordinary things I can do with my kids. But tonight I remembered to slow down. I remembered the mom that I wanted to be and the reason that I became a mom and we relaxed together to the tun of what we decided were "seashell nails."
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