My Mom Said “This Would Be The Hardest Time Of Your Life,” And She Was Right: DAD BLOG

Sometimes Moms know best.  With Mother's Day coming up this weekend, it seems fitting that I'm sitting here typing this with bloodshot, tired, baggy eyes.  We had another rough one last night.

The kids were wound up from the spring weather and didn't go to bed so easy.  My wife, exhausted came downstairs at 9:45 after finally getting the toddler down.  She had worked a 10 hour day that was particularly terrible, dealing with rude customers and all around jerks.  Customer service can be a tough gig.  I worked from 5 am - 5pm, and I was exhausted by 8pm.  We talked for about 2 minutes, then we both dragged our tired butts to bed and passed out.  Unfortunately, I woke up about 3 am with so much on my mind, I decided to just get up and go to work instead of wasting precious time tossing and turning.

This is our marriage for this period in our life.  There's a few minutes a day we spend with each other.  If you have kids and you don't have a rock solid relationship you will end up divorced.  Because at this point all that carries you is knowing the other person is there for you.  We don't get many romantic evenings.  Our rare date nights are cut short because we know we'll be up at 6 am on a Saturday morning with a very spirited toddler.  And our babysitters budget is used up for watching the kids when we both work on a Saturday.

So this brings me to the point where my Mom told me a couple years ago after we had our second kid that "This is going to be the hardest time in your life."  Man, was she right.  Thank God for her.  She comes down twice a week to help with the kids.  Without her we couldn't do it.  No way.   She's been there to let me know that it will get better.  That it's worth it in the end.  She reassures me that I'm a good dad, even though sometimes I feel like I'm screwing it all up.  She tells me she's proud of me which is the kindest compliment there is.

I think of Darius Rucker's "It Won't Be Like This For Long," and Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This."  Both great songs that anybody can relate to if they have kids.  Sometimes I'll get caught off guard when I see our 8 year old and think he's someone else's kid for a split second because there's no way our boy is that old.  Our daughter is speaking sentences.  I swear yesterday she just was a baby learning to roll over.

So we take the highs and lows.  We try to enjoy the moments we can, and we put one foot in front of the other everyday.  Some days this is the hardest time of my life, and other days it's the best days of my life.  Mom told me that, too.