priorities

Last night, I saw a car (minivan?) commercial that included this (para)phrase: "A bigger, more luxurious car for getting the kids to school..."

What?!  I remember being dropped off at school in a huge Ford Econoline -- you know, the kind that takes up two lanes of highway and has window curtains and a removable table.  It was roomy and comfortable for family vacations and carpools, but no one would have made the mistake of thinking it was cool.  But as a kid, I really didn't care about being dropped off at school in a luxury car.  Good grief.

Then, this morning, my friends over at The Modest Mom posted this about how your kids don't need the best cars and clothes and the finest things in life -- they need YOU.  Now, I'm hardly guilty of trying to give Baby the best, most expensive items for his little life.  I've bought ONE new item of clothing for him; everything else has come from consignment sales or was generously given to us by friends or family (mostly second-hand).  I pride myself on the fact that his entire nursery is assembled from used items.  Even his diapers appear after the best of couponing trips.

But I can't pretend that I always give him the best of me.  So today, at the gentle prompting of the above blog post, I tossed aside my to-do list, grabbed a protein bar, and took him to the park.

We didn't stay long; it was close to naptime for him and well past lunch time for me.  But we went and experienced the simple joy of a beautiful day together.  I didn't walk for exercise; this was his floor time, and I took a few of his toys so he could enjoy them there.  We sat on the blanket for about half an hour, and when we got home, I put him down for a nap.  Looking around my home now, I see a pile of mail to sort, an assortment of cat fur from last night's apparent catfight, potatoes that need to be peeled for dinner, and he's now waking from his nap... but things can wait.

Each day, my baby is growing up, and beyond the fact that I know I will regret missing the little things, I know that he gets so much out of just spending time with mama -- especially in a new, unfamiliar, peaceful place.

And the dusting and vacuuming certainly isn't more important than that.