Let's get it started in here...

It's Monday night and the start of a new week.  Is it possible to have "writer's block" when you are blogging?  This is all new to me so this might start off a bit shaky but we'll give it a shot. 

Tonight's topic is on one of my favorite ideas and it is the notion of life being about the journey, not the destination. 

So often in our busy lives, we rush through the motions of our day without taking the time to smell the proverbial roses, or in my case, maybe a dirty diaper. 

A diaper.

Well yes.  A diaper.  A stinky, filthy, needs to go out in the backyard trash immediately kind of diaper.  A diaper is a reminder that my daughter is still young.  It is the last major hurdle of our toddler years, years that have gone by far too quickly.  I can attest to this rapid passage of time as my first "baby" has entered his last "tween" year, having just turned 12.  

When he was her age, I remember feeling so frustrated and anxious for him to take the next step, to use the potty, so that we could say good-bye to the putrid stench that would often emanate from his backside.  Once that was conquered, we moved on to soccer, then t-ball, kindergarten and Tae Kwon Doe.  As we traveled through new and unfamiliar territory navigating the occasionally rocky terrain of elementary school, we managed to make it through relatively unscathed.  Before we knew it, Jr. High had arrived and here we are.  It  seems to have snuck right up on me. 

These days I find myself quite content to change diapers.  I don't feel that urgency to move on to the next step.  Maybe it's because I know we will never have another baby but maybe I just want to savor each moment with both of my children because I know that these moments don't last forever, even the stinky ones.  I know that the only thing we have that's certain is this very minute and nothing else. 

When I look at my family, I am grateful for the journey that we take every day.  I am reminded that my job as a wife and mother is one that will never end and it's the one I enjoy the most.  It's a 24/7-365 kind of job but I believe that every day is truly a gift and that taking the time to smell the roses, or in my case a dirty diaper, is an essential part of making life's journey worth taking. 

So often we focus on the quickest means to an end but I really do think that the destination we seek is in itself, our journey.  So I say this, slow down...take a breath and enjoy the ride.