These Are The Days

10 years ago I would sit and think about what my life would look like one day. Who my husband would be. What my children would look like. The house I would live in. The kind of job I would have. Envisioning the life I would be living when I was an "adult." 

5 years later I met my husband. We started dating and soon thereafter we were engaged. We planned our wedding and it was all I had dreamed of in those early years. Six months later we moved into our home. While shopping for houses I would imagine my future children running around at my feet, and pulling up chairs to the counters in the kitchen so that they could cook alongside myself and my husband. I would picture what it would look like to raise my family in these houses and hope that one day my dreams would come true.

As the saying goes - first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. I count myself lucky that motherhood came easily to me. When we decided to start trying for a family, it seemed to happen overnight. We were overjoyed when the test came up positive, and then again when we heard that little heartbeat in the doctor's office. Even though it didn't seem like it at the time, those nine months whizzed by quickly and all of a sudden our family expanded to three. 

The first year is still a blur, when I think back on it. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Each day we were trying to figure out what the heck we were doing. This tiny little human relied on us for everything. And like a miracle, she turned one and we celebrated! It was a triumph that we survived that first year. 

It dawned on me the other day that the stage we are currently in with our daughter is fulfilling all the dreams that I had when we were shopping for houses. My daughter gleefully runs from living room to kitchen to dining room, around and around. She loves to pull up the chair to the counter and help Aaron and I cook. She goes into her room, picks out her books and reads to herself. She plays with her toys and uses her imagination well. She loves to run and run around outside, go down the slides at the park, and be pushed in the swing. These are the days that I dreamed of and sometimes I forget to remember that. 

Lately I have been trying to remember. To feel grateful that this is what I have. To remember that not everyone has what I am blessed to have in my life. Lately I try to remember how blessed I am to be living the life that I once dreamed. I know that some are dreaming as I once did for this life. So, I will try to make the best of what I have been given. And to not take it for granted.