Live In The Moment

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).


I really enjoy reading anything by Anna Quindlen. She has such a profound, true voice.

I always try to live in the moment, especially when it comes to my kids. I try to remember what they have said that made me laugh and I watch them and think that I want to remember them as they are right now. I try, I do, but months or years later when I think back on my kids, it's hard to remember exactly what their voice sounded like when they were at different ages or their exact expression. Time has a way of fading those memories. One thing I always remember to do, is to live in the moment with them. They know, they feel it and so do I.

I may not be the strictest disciplinarian around, but we have mutual love and respect. You never know what life will throw at you when you least expect it. So don't stay mad, don't hold grudges, forgive, apologize, smile and laugh, because in the end that might be the last thing anyone remembers.