Lately, I have worked long hours (like 90 some weeks). I love what I do and hard work is what I know. That said, I wish I had worked less when my son was younger. Sometimes he would ask, "Can we have a Mommy-Son day?" And occasionally, I would take the day off or we would load up the tent trailer and head to the coast to camp. I wanted my son to have everything that every other child had with two parents. For some reason, I thought that I needed to work harder and provide him with the best of everything because he didn't have a Dad (We call that over-compensating, I know). I wish I had just cut back on my hours, lived simply and played with him more. Yes, hard work afforded a trip to Disney Land, ski trips to Whitefish, Montana, every lego kit ever invented, the latest skate board equipment, pretty much anything he wanted or I thought he needed because other kids seemed to have it that came from dual income earning families. I am grateful for all the things we did do together and the memories are priceless. I just saw my son 3 weeks ago, but it seems like years. I miss him so much. He is the most important thing to me on this planet.
So this week I have my precious niece visiting me. She is 8 years old and has been my "dolly" since the day she was born. She loves barbies, sparkle and everything pink. . .Squeals with joy when she is happy and is full of fun ideas like, painting our toes, playing dress-up and baking cupcakes. This morning we picked blackberries at 10am (busy call time for me, but I hit ignore when my phone rang). We picked berries with the neighbor kids who are just darling (I sold their family the house next door. Yes, I hand picked my neighbors - total perk of my biz).
Today I did something different for a change - I stopped working for a bit and made blackberry jam with the berries we picked. After the jam was made, we (myself and three 8 year olds) came up with the fabulous idea to have a tea party breakfast in the morning on the lawn - I would get a blanket, a box of fancy hats, McDonalds biscuits and we would spread the jam we made on the biscuits. My neighbor girl said she had a tea set and juice she could bring. The joy on these 3 precious little faces reminded me what is really important in this world. . . Time with our loved ones.
Every day's a perfect gift of time for us to use. Hours waiting to be filled in any way we choose. Each morning brings a quiet hope that rises with the sun. Each evening brings the sweet content that comes with work well done.
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