A Date with my Daughter


 

Last week, I was privileged to spend some one-on-one time with my oldest daughter, Saoirse. As all smart gals do, we made a beeline to the mall for dinner and a little retail therapy. I let her choose where we ate dinner - she chose Chick-fil-A, of course. After eating, we both had our hair cut, and then we went purse shopping. Saoirse may only be five years old, but it is never too early to teach her the ins-and-outs of purse shopping (says the one obsessed with purses!).

As a stay-at-home mom with more than one child, I have struggled with feelings of guilt - guilt that I can no longer give my oldest child my undivided attention;  guilt that I am not as tuned in to the special artwork (or funny faces, or new dance moves, etc) she is forever presenting to me; and guilt that I am not spending near the amount of time with her as I did prior to the second child coming along. When Saoirse and I did have alone time, I then went overboard and made elaborate plans that didn't cater to either one of our personalities and ultimately, we just didn't end up having much fun.

As a person that absolutely refuses to live with guilt or regret, I felt I needed to do a bit of soul-searching about this issue I was faced with.  This led me to a proverbial kick in my hindquarters.  I realized that Saoirse really doesn't care what it is we do - she just wants to be with me. I think she would be perfectly happy picking trash up off the side of the road if it meant that it was just the two of us doing it. This may be a slight exaggeration as Saoirse is very girly and trash on the side of the road is dirty and mostly without sparkle, but you get the picture. When this realization hit me, I decided to relieve myself of the burden of guilt and just live in the moment.  That guilt was holding me back and I was missing out on all of the fun I could be having with her!  I now look forward to spending one-on-one time with her, doing simple things.  But those simple things allow us to make the most of our ever-growing, ever-evolving relationship.  JCMT

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