What is it about aging that makes you savor the little things? The taste of coffee, the wind on your face, the smell of the rain, of flowers, the way your reflection stares back at you, the grip of your child’s hand in yours, a sunrise or sunset, a smile from a stranger or a sweet phone call from someone you love.

I’ve been pondering this a lot lately, checking in with myself, looking backwards and forwards. It seems to happen most on milestones, for example my daughter’s 7^th birthday that just passed.

She woke me up eagerly in the morning, “Mom! I’ve a seven year old!” I smiled sleepily, wishing her a happy birthday, telling her that indeed she is a seven year old now.

With each birthday that passes, for her and my son, we do birthday interviews and measure them on our wall, each year the theme changing slightly, the wishes growing bigger, their personalities bursting at the seams. Throughout the day, I found myself emotional, for different reasons. Happiness to see them grow and the grief of losing that younger version of them, even if this new one is equally as awesome.

At bedtime, I saw her stuffed animals lined up on her bookshelf, remembering a time when she had to have all eight of them in bed with her to sleep well. Now she only needs two. And the books we used to read, the sweet lullaby ones, the baby ones, have switched as well, more complex, longer. I found tears in my eyes, again the same mix of emotions, grateful for those memories yet missing them at the same time.

Do we all go through this, as parents? Even as someone without kids, there must be times we look back on fondly, gratefully. I think yes, we must, because it’s a wildly beautiful and painful thing to grow up and to watch others do the same. I once read an article by a woman I’ve followed for years where she talks about this exact topic with her children, titled ‘The Grief of Growing Up.’

As someone who looks deeply at life, her surroundings, trying to soak it all in, I fear I may be more aware then I should be, sometimes fearful for what will be gone before I know it rather than living in the moment, in the good ol’ days.

It’s something I’ve been working on.

The practice of awareness, of gratitude, of the foresight to see that what I’m living in, even through the sometimes chaotic days, are going to be remembered as the best times of my life. But I don’t want to grieve them before they’re even gone.

Being present in today’s age is a feat. It’s a constant effort to step away from the other world, the one that demands our dopamine, to go back to rewiring our nervous systems to live slowly, to be fully immersed in whatever we’re doing. It’s something I talk about often. A slow life, a present one. And I’m getting better at it.

As someone who grew up with the rise of social media and the internet, it’s easy to get sucked in to it, to want to see what is next, where things are going, constantly chasing what is new. And then I burnout and have to take time away, realizing that everything needs to have balance, that I can’t forget the time before the addiction of screens, a time we all search for, that nostalgic feeling of our childhoods.

When I do step away, I’m reminded that it’s never been gone, I’ve only been distracted from it. Taking time away to read a physical book, paint a picture, work in my garden, play with my children, and have distraction free connection with my husband or other family members, that’s my new nostalgia, it’s what I will yearn for in another thirty years when I’m looking back at yet more time that has passed.

So I will savor the snuggles with my babies, while they’re still young enough to want them. I will commit the small things to memories and let the chaotic days be what they will. We will read books and go on adventures, create memories to last a lifetime. And when the next chapter inevitably turns, I will begin again, continuing to write a story in the present that will be remembered as a life well lived.

Because these are in fact, the good ol’ days.

Thank you for spending some of your time with me today, I’m so glad you’re here :)

Until next time ✌🏻