Last night as we were eating dinner around the table together, we were having a conversation about technology/social media, etc. and how this effects our family. This isn't a new conversation for the four of us to have. In fact we have it quite frequently, probably due to the age of our girls now and how everyone (adults included) are on their phones all the time. Not too long ago, our church had a series of sermons about this ... Disconnect to Connect. It has become the catch phrase around our house and we all use it with each other to keep us in check about being present in the moment. We do relatively well I think. We have made adjustments the past few months and some agreements with each other about being on our phones. None of this is anything new and probably not anything new to those of you who are reading. One of the biggest issues American families now deal with is how to use technology in a healthy way and allow it to be a part of our lives but not control our lives. It is a difficult task, parenting our children and teens on technology and social media! Another huge issue for families currently is the pace of life we keep. We are busy people! Most of the time for our family, the activities we are involved in are good things, positive things and things that we are choosing to do. Several years ago, Marc and I made the decision to not do everything or allow our girls to do everything they wanted to do. We have been those parents, saying no to an extra club team or practice, no to going out to eat again during the week, no to even some church activities because we have tried to protect some of our family time. And even with saying no to things ... we are still busy, busy, busy!!! But back to last night at dinner ...
Then Marc said, "I can count up the number of weekends that the four of us have until Macy goes to college and I don't want any of us to regret the way we spent our time." Before I knew it, each one of us had tears welling in our eyes and starting to stream down our faces. We have always talked about college a lot in our house. We have even referenced that Macy has four more years and Mallory has six more years until they can go to college. And no one has ever been sad about it. But I think saying something that is a little more tangible to them, like counting our weekends, for some reason hit home with all of us. We have bonded the past few weeks with the transitions to middle school and high school and relied on each other more and spent even more quality time together. And I am thankful for that. It hasn't been the smoothest of transitions for our little family, in fact some of it has been pretty difficult, but we are all in it together.
We aren't harboring or hung up on the fact that our family time will greatly shift in a few years, but we are mindful of it. And I think there is value in that. Do you know what time it is for your family or have you lost track? Time is a gift. And when it's time to move on to the next chapter then we will make that shift and move forward. But until then, we know what time it is at our house ... time to be together.
I've thought about writing a blog several times before ... when we had our babies, when we went to Disneyland, when we moved to a new house, and on and on. And although those are all big events and milestones in our life, the McCartney family hit a pretty huge one last week. Our youngest, Mallory, started middle school and our oldest, Macy, started high school. That's right, one started middle school and one started high school. I mean seriously, could there be a bigger, more monumental transition going on in our household right now??? We have 2 teenage girls, both with all the drama, craziness, loudness, and full on EXTREME range of activities. Don't get me wrong, or take that in a negative way. All of that busyness is good and positive (most of the time) but that doesn't mean that it isn't exhausting too! The first week of school has brought us volleyball tryouts, tests, projects due, memorizing the Spanish alphabet, basketball parent meeting, buying school supplies (can I just say it is hard to find the right colors of folders with holes punched!), ordering books for English class, first church youth group night, and all the usual things like getting backpacks and school lunches ready for the next day. I'm exhausted just thinking about all of it again as I type!
And as exhausting as it can all be on any given day, I am also thankful as I think back on the past week. As crazy and busy as this season of life is, and just when I think I have had as much as I can take of the EXTREME high and excitement and the EXTREME low and despair in ONE DAY PEOPLE ... I think about how grateful I am that we get to live out this stage of life to the fullest with our girls. And believe me, we live it to the fullest. The McCartney girls have never been known for anything less. We have girls that want to do it all and with that comes a range of emotions in the biggest way that can run the gamut within a few seconds.
So moms of teens and preteens ... love on those babies. Yes, babies. Because as grown up as they like to appear, they are still little ones trying to figure things out in this great big world. And they need us, and we need them. Because in just a short little while, they will be off and what will they remember most? That we loved them well.
First Day of School 2007
Macy - 2nd Grade
Mallory - Kindergarten
