Good Long Minutes

Sometimes it seemed that the 42 minutes we had left before I could get everyone into/onto beds for nap time / quiet time lasted an eternity.  Dead on my feet mama of four under 5 years, those minutes crawled by... would we even make it?  Days when four elementary aged children had four book reports, four history fair costumes, four reading logs, and/or four practices/lessons/games... those days could be very frantic but LONNNGG marathons.  The seventeen minutes before dinner was ready... very long minutes.

But now.

I could use some very long minutes.
Weeks are like an afternoon.  Four years of high school, a few months.
Slow down please.  Please slow down. Please.

Please.

Our lives are so full right now of celebrations, milestones, BIG things.  College visits, driver's licenses, formals, milestone birthdays, freshman orientations (high school and college), big games, summer jobs, road trips....
Big, fast, full....

I want some long minutes.

I know what it means when Matthew says "but Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart."  Sitting in the new quiet of our house today, just sitting. Reviewing in my mind's eye and in my heart's ears the images and sounds of four cherished babies, four delightful toddlers, four curious and adventurous children, and four self assured, dreaming and inspired teenagers. Struggles and fears and growth and life lessons.  All of it stored not in scrapbooks, not even in the thousands of jumbled photographs (not for lack of trying), but in my head and heart.

Having some good long grateful minutes.