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Take a Breath and Let It Go

Katie Hunter
Nov 24, 2015
3 min read

No, this is not going to be a Frozen reference.

Now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to share a special moment I had a couple of days ago with my three-year-old.

We were driving home from church and our son asked that we make some snowballs once we got home. Initially both my husband and I said that we were just going to go inside, eat some lunch, and head to quiet time. Our son proceeded to beg and plead that we play in the snow. It was the first snowfall of the season and he was desperate to enjoy it.

We pulled into our garage and began unloading the children. I was carrying the church bag and my son was walking toward the house, thumb in mouth and tears streaming down his face. I took a breath, grabbed a clump of snow and tossed it at his back. He stopped, paused for a moment, turned around and lit up like a Christmas tree. With his eyes still a little red from crying, he bent down, packed some snow in his tiny hands and threw it at me. His laughter filled the air. I threw another one and he returned the jest. We both squealed with joy.

Our almost two-year-old ran over mocking our cries and grabbed some snow. She threw it and frozen powder flew everywhere. We laughed and played. Daddy joined in and in that moment all was right in the world.

That moment literally lasted maybe 3 minutes. It wasn't long. It wasn't grand or climactic. It was just a few short moments of letting go.

As we hurried inside to warm our hands and make some hot chocolate, I sent a quick prayer up to heaven.

Thanks for helping me let go so we could have that moment.

I have thought about this for a couple of days now and I have asked myself "Why do you find it so hard to let go? You used to be spontaneous, some would even say 'fun,' what happened?"

I think there are several reasons people, particularly mothers, struggle to release the tension of their daily duties. I believe that we have to find ways to cope/survive as a mother. You make a routine, you plan for the day, you create a mental checklist of the things you are to accomplish.

Change diapers..... check!

Feed kids....... check!

Serve your neighbor.......check!

Get your workout in....... check!

So on and so forth.

There are so many things to be done and someone has to do them. We get so wrapped up in the daily tasks, that we sometimes feel that we don't have the time (or energy) to do the fun stuff. But the thing I realized on Sunday is that the fun stuff doesn't have to be an extravagent trip to an indoor water park, it can just be a few minutes of tossing snow into eachother's hair.

I learned an important lesson that day; and I hope the next time an opportunity like that pops up I can take a breath and let myself have a little fun. I hope you will too!