A former coworker once described parenting as looking into a mirror that magnifies all your best and worst qualities. One beautiful mess. At the time, I had yet to enter into parenthood, and still the illustration stuck with me. All these years later, it’s safe to say I now experience what that seasoned parent was trying to convey, every single day. These mini people are just that, people, temporarily packaged pint sized, but people all the same. And along with their people-ness comes people-ish things- short tempers, tears, belly laughs and more tears. Quite often all of these emotions can happen in the span of 13 minutes or less, and so life goes. The ups, the arounds, the downs.
There are days that flow with sweet:
And there are days when just waking up is unjust:
In parenting and in living, those sweet days are so much easier to swallow than the others, but growth happens in the rough waters- the unjust places. Staring into the reflection of parenthood and seeing things I’ve never liked about myself on a child I’m madly in love with, offers unique clarity, conviction and ultimately (if chosen) the perspective to mature. And perspective allows me to smile (and grab the camera) in the midst of this:
Because I know before it’s time for second breakfast we could be right back around to the sweet:
May you have a weekend of sweet perspective friends – thanks for checking in!
by sarahrichmond
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