Some of the best are the Simplest

By: Samantha S. Daviss

Seems as of lately our lives have been super chaotic. Between school activities, after school obligations, my personal and professional responsibilities, not to mention that my family and I are building what we can only pray is our “Forever House”. It is all so exciting, but we have a lot on our plates right now.

We seem to go from appointment to appointment, job to job, and place to place with no rest for the weary. But this past Friday night, I was lucky enough to get to stay home with my boys and play on the floor with them, and watch them just be boys. Who would have thought that that young girl at Texas A&M University, or that young energetic 20-something would be excited and look forward to a Friday night at home? Funny how our priorities change.

The house pretty much looked like a hurricane blew through it, but at the end of the night I just stood there smiling at the mess I had to endure and put away. I am pretty sure every single toy was pulled out of our shelving system and utilized. We managed to build tent houses for everyone, all connected by tunnels; and every single stuffed animal in the house was lined up like a row of soldiers awaiting their orders.

We rounded our evening out with pancakes for dinner followed up by baking cookies together. I have never seen them more excited to be together, and the fact of the matter was it was just a nice quiet evening in our house.

We all seem to forget that it is the simplest things in life that make us all smile. I was the happiest I had been in a really long time. We were all home together, warm and cozy, playing simple mindless games, and just enjoying the fact that we were there together.

Kids are pretty resilient people; they will go and do just about anything you require of them, with very few complaints. At least that is how my kiddos are; but to see them at home playing, using their imaginations, and giggling over a few chocolate chip cookies that they intently watched baking the full 15 minutes was absolutely the most peaceful blessing I had received in a long, long time.

So from that moment on I made it my personal vow to take each one of my boys on a “date” at least once a month, individually. I have tried to do it in the past, but something always comes up; but no more…we are going to have special one-on-one mommy time. The years with all of them are slipping away too quickly and I need them to realize that the quiet, playful, at-home moments are the most important. Not the trips, the gifts, or the money spent on them, but the time spent on them.

I need them to realize that no matter what happens in their lives, where they go, what they do, or who they end up with … their mom and dad will always be there for them to share in the quiet moments. 

Whether or not they want to talk, or just sit in silence, we will be there no matter what.

So sometimes it’s better to just keep things simple, clean and to the point. Baking cookies, building blanket forts, or just dangling your feet into the side of a pool or over the edge of a dock. They just need to know that you are there. We think we are giving them attention by running them around from activity to activity, feeding them, clothing them; but they need more, they need to know that for a few solid hours they are the center of your attention, no outside distractions, or curiosities, just you and them. 

They need to know what you always tell them…that they are the center of your world.