We can get lost in nostalgia sometimes. Hearing my daughter pronounce her r’s so perfectly, watching the way she reads with ease – sometimes these milestones that should be fully celebrated only serve as reminders of those days when they were small and couldn’t do these things for themselves. I used to swim around in the memories more than I do now. But memories can be sweet little liars. They don’t always store up the whole truth of how things were.
Today, he builds with blocks. Today, he wants me to build with him and make up stories and weave the road for the cars through the town. Instead of being swept away by how big they are now or how much things have changed, take a few minutes to consider what is real and true this day – the lovely, the messy, and the unexpected. That’s what we are doing on Tuesdays in December. Look around, because one day not so long from now, this very day will be one of those days you look back on and treasure. Might we practice treasuring it now instead?
We would love to read about your Tuesday gifts by inviting you to add your link below. Be sure to include the permalink to your Tuesday post. If you need help to link up, this page will hopefully answer all of your questions. Be sure to link back here to Chatting at the Sky so that others can find our community. Welcome to Tuesdays Unwrapped.
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Maureen @ Loving This Life says
December 6, 2011 at 8:09 AMOh how this speaks to me. I find myself looking back a lot lately wondering how they’ve gotten so big and wasn’t it just yesterday they were so tiny in my arms? I need to stop looking back and start embracing the gift that is today. Sweet lego building, rough and tumble boys who still jump into my arms. They just fill them up more today.
Thank you Emily for the sweet reminder. And thanks for hosting Tuesdays!
dawn says
December 6, 2011 at 8:22 AMmy face was smiling as i read… seems you & i are on the same page today. those sweet little lies that memories can be… they showed themselves to me in the middle of the night. i am a smidgen envious of your block-playing…
happy tuesday… and thanks for showing and sharing your heart. it makes me smile
patty says
December 6, 2011 at 8:26 AMfully living. perfectly suggested.
love your photo.
xo
Michelle DeRusha@Graceful says
December 6, 2011 at 9:03 AMSo true, Emily, so true. Sometimes I forget about the underbelly of childrearing. It wasn’t all sweet smiles and cozy hugs. Here’s to living in the now — there is so much to treasure right this very minute.
Jess says
December 6, 2011 at 9:07 AMI’m excited to link up today with some thoughts on forgetting grace. http://heartcommjessica.blogspot.com
Callie Feyen says
December 6, 2011 at 9:51 AMOh boy is my memory messy! And sticky! And I didn’t want to share it but it’s in living with it and looking closely at it that I found it is something to treasure. Excited to be linking up again!
Jo@Mylestones says
December 6, 2011 at 9:56 AMI recently read a fascinating book (Brandwashed) that explained from a somewhat scientific viewpoint how our brains are actually wired toward nostalgia–to block out much of the bad, to highlight the good and to remember things rosier than they actually were. Prime example: childbirth! But all that rosy remembering can sabotage the present-day gratitude and contentment….and you’ve done well to remind us of that here with Tuesdays Unwrapped. Today, we are grateful for today.
Shelly Miller says
December 6, 2011 at 10:15 AMYour phrase about our memories sometimes being pretty little liars made me think about the time I revisited the town I grew up in after being absent for twenty years. All of the houses seemed so much smaller than what I remembered. In my mind, many were mansions. Made me laugh at the time. I started your book on the plane to London last week. Enjoying it and relating!
Carissa says
December 6, 2011 at 10:57 AM“memories can be sweet little liars”
Yes… oh, how they can be.
Mary Lauren @My 3 Little Birds says
December 6, 2011 at 12:27 PMThank you, Emily for hosting this linkup. The community you’ve fostered here at Chatting at the Sky is so wonderful…I love “meeting” your readers in this way.
Southern Gal says
December 6, 2011 at 1:14 PMA good reminder to live for today.
Jamie @ Six Bricks High says
December 6, 2011 at 1:25 PMLove this, Emily. Living in the moment has been big on my heart lately. I wrote about the very same thing today 🙂
Sandy Cooper says
December 6, 2011 at 1:41 PMI am going through a season where I miss the times my now-middle-schooler used to actually LIKE me. *sigh* Not so sure I will look back on this day and treasure the memory…but I will try to look for something worth treasuring in this very difficult season of parenting.
Thanks for this lovely post.
Sandy
Alison@reallifestories.net says
December 6, 2011 at 2:46 PMLast night I went to my daughter’s School Presentation. They showed a montage of photos of the school events that had gone on this past year. I felt a twinge of sadness that her first year at school was now officially ended – where did the time go? Today I am going to help out on a school excursion, instead of just trying to ‘get through it’, like I am tempted to at this time of year with all the demands of the season, I am going to treasure it instead. Thank you!
Kristen-Chasing Blue Skies says
December 6, 2011 at 3:04 PMI’ve been trying to do this more intentionally for awhile now. Because the truth is, down the road I’ll be tempted to say, “Remember back when they were only 8 and 12?” I will appreciate all they are today!
Love this, and love you!
Christine Trevino says
December 6, 2011 at 3:21 PMToday I took a moment to cuddle with my nearly nine month old son a little longer before he nodded off to sleep. I was literally just pregnant with him yesterday and all of a sudden he is nine months old. It’s so difficult sometimes to see the forest from the trees when you’re a mom of two little ones, we’ve just had an extended two week period of little sleep, but today I took a moment to look at one of the trees, and it was so beautiful :).
Sandra Heska King says
December 6, 2011 at 4:54 PM“But memories can be sweet little liars.”
Screech! My eyes laid rubber right there. Oh, to look for the real and true, the lovely and the messy in every moment.
andrea says
December 6, 2011 at 6:05 PMThis is exactly what I find myself doing often – wishing I could relive some of the moments when my children were infants or toddlers – the years that seemed to fly by and were overshadowed by sleep deprivation. But this desire also encourages me to live in the now moments and soak them up.
Laurie Collett says
December 6, 2011 at 6:29 PMAmen! Memories are precious — the moments of each day, of the here and now, even more so. Our pastor has a favorite saying he shares with his daughter — “Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.
Thanks for the excellent post!
Jeri Taira says
December 6, 2011 at 8:22 PMEmily, I’m so glad you’ve connected us all this December. Thank you for the gift of it all.
Your post: I love how you got on your belly and played with your son. It brought a huge smile to my face and heart. Looking forward to having this with our grandson. He’s starting to show signs of wanting to crawl. He’ll be 5 months old.
Leigh Ann @ Intentional By Grace says
December 6, 2011 at 11:51 PMThis is a beautiful reminder! Thank you!
dawn says
December 7, 2011 at 12:35 AMoh emily. you speak truth again.
Mrs.B says
December 7, 2011 at 2:43 PMWhy IS it so hard to treasure Right Now?
That’s a great post Emily!
Kelly Sauer says
December 15, 2011 at 4:50 PM“What is real and true this day…”
I’m learning it over and over, it seems. No day is the same, but I’ve been thinking about the “this” in the day that the Lord has made, and how I can rejoice and be glad that the sun came up again, that God even made another day. When they wake me whining and fighting with one another, break the kitten’s tail and destroy the living room, I have to think of how I came to love them, how they got here and got into my heart, regardless of what they do without realizing they are making trouble.