Need help figuring out adoption relationships? Schedule a complimentary consultation with Lori Holden, M.A.

Perfect Moment Monday: We are Young

Most days, as soon as the alarm goes off I pull on yoga pants (and shirt), wake the kids and get them ready for school. About the time they’re pledging their allegiance, I am setting up my laptop in my home office.

But once in awhile, I actually go to work and must begin the day the way I used to: I shower, pick something out of my closet that is on a hanger, and do my hair and makeup. I had one of these days in November, and instead of guiding my children through each step of their prep, I focused on mine.

Would my kids rise to the occasion?

I made sure Tessa and Reed were awake before I stepped into the shower. Would you believe that not once did they storm through the door and complain that one was breathing on the other? Would you believe that after I dried myself off and crept into the hallway to see what was going on in the kitchen, that I saw Tessa rinsing Reed’s cereal bowl and loading it into the dishwasher? That I saw Reed making a lunch for Tessa? That they were collaborating with each other rather than tormenting each other?

I was in shock. And I broke out into a huge smile.

Tessa and Reed had a soundtrack for the morning blaring from one or the other’s iPod, perched in the kitchen docking station an causing them to rock out. At the moment I peered down on them, “We Are Young” by fun. was playing. It’s a song we all love to sing together in the car, but in this scenario it held new meaning.

We are young!
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter
Than the sun!

(Not the get-drunk-til-you-can’t-get-yourself-home meaning that the video portrays.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I saw with my own eyes that I am raising independent, cooperative and compassionate human beings. Who so totally rock.

~~~~~

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

On the last Monday of each month we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join.

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

  • Follow Write Mind Open Heart.
  • Write up your own Perfect Moment and post it on your blog (or other site).
  • Use LinkyTools below to enter your name (or blog name), the URL of your Perfect Moment post, and a thumbnail image if desired.
  • Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

The next Perfect Moment Monday event will begin December 31.

(Cross-posted on BlogHer.)


27 Responses

  1. Fabulous. 🙂 This occasionally happens in our house (though not with *quite* so much independence yet) … thank you for the reminder to notice, and appreciate it out loud!!

  2. my 4 year old boys love that song too. It’s as if their whole world of play and make-believe comes to a total stop when it comes on Pandora. 🙂

  3. Even though that song has been on constant play on every radio station, when I saw your title, I flashed immediately back to the 80s and Pat Benetar! It’s probably because, like the fun song, I was always the one who was carrying people home at night (I got all my serious drinking over with in my first 2 years of college – thereafter, I was the designated driver 99% of the time).

    I think kids are far more capable than they let on. For a while, I had my 4-5 year old trained so that she would get up, get dressed, and get her breakfast out of the cabinet, because the rule was that she had to do all of those things before she could turn on the TV. Now, she’s 6 and she’s all broken, because she doesn’t have to be at school until 8, and I’m already at work, and not around to harass her. But she still does fine on her own, because she has to wake Daddy up at 7. I guess the dynamic is different when there are 2, though.

    I hope the spirit of cooperation and companionship lasts them forever!

  4. So glad that your children more than rose to the occasion and gave you this perfect moment. What a beautiful way to start the day, I can imagine that your smile returned throughout the day as you remembered it.

  5. Grinning ear-to-ear from reading this. Completely unsurprised, but still awesome to have you witness. I’m with A about hearing Pat Benatar singing in the background, which still fits in my book as both songs celebrate being independent and self-aware.

    Congratulations on a job well done, lady!

  6. I love your kids…and I haven’t even met them. How awesome of them both to take charge and not only get ready, but make their breakfast AND put it in the dishwasher. They are awesome.

    Good job Tessa and Reed!

  7. what a great, great post! And I’ve got one to share this month as well! Linking soon.

    Have I said how much I love your perfect moments and the fact that its put me in the practice of noticing my own? YOU rock.

  8. That’s so great! And oh how I sometimes wish my kids were already at an age where they can dress themselves and I don’t have to get up too early if I want to have a chance to take a shower, get dressed and do hair and make-up (and usually, no matter what time I set my alarm, one of them will eventually wake up just when I’m about to step into the shower…).
    And I was so convinced I would join you in PMM again this month, had something in my head to write about, then remembered another PMM which I liked even more, but now I cannot remember for the life of me what that was! And I can’t seem to write a post about another PMM as long as it doesn’t come back to me…

  9. That’s awesome (and fun to picture, since I have had the great pleasure of getting to meet your two wonderful children in person)!

    So cool to be able to catch them doing so many things right and for themselves, not to mention rockin’ out together! That is probably my favorite part of your story/perfect moment, though I am also impressed by the rest. Well done Mama!

  10. “Breathing on each other,” LOL. I remember saying that about my brother. Lately my daughter has been complaining about her brother looking out her window.

    This was a lovely PMM 🙂

  11. These are the mothering moments we must cling to when that voice in our head starts to tell us we are “screwing them up”! So glad you caught that moment! They are priceless!

  12. What a wonderful start to your morning! I love that song and it made me smile to think about the three of you rockin’ out to it after helping each other out. Thank you for hosting!

  13. What a great post! It’s so neat to see that your kids know how to take care of each other. When they’re not breathing on each other, that is.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *