Every year, since my daughter started school I have taken pictures of her first day of school. The start of pre-school was such an emotional day for my husband and I. Sending our baby out into the world for even a few hours without us was daunting. I remember sitting in the parking lot of the pre-school the entire three hours for the first couple of days. Maybe that’s a little crazy, but she cried so hard when I left her I couldn’t go home. I just stayed in there, my heart felt like it would come out of my body. I waited, just in case they needed me to calm her down. Thankfully, it took a few minutes for her to stop crying and then she was ok. That part of my life feels like yesterday, and yet it was six years ago!

My nine year old just ended another school year. Another summer is here for us to spend together. I keep thinking about how when we first had her everyone told us not to blink an eye, because before long she will grow up. Well it’s happening, I wish I could slow it down but I can’t.

All I can do is to stop being preoccupied with things that don’t matter and focus on my child. Stop stressing about unnecessary things and enjoy the moments. The moments I spend with my parents who are in their 70’s. The moments I spend with my all my loved ones, the people that matter to me.

We often use up the present moments of our lives, longing to be someplace else, doing something else. We waste present moments feeling guilty about the past or apprehensive about the future. Slipping away from the present happens because we are living our lives with an attitude of depreciation rather than appreciation. We need to learn to pay attention to what’s going on in the inner world of our thoughts.

Our present moment is the only thing that is real. We can either make use of these precious moments in a state of thankfulness and appreciation by being fully in the now, or wish to be anywhere but here. When all is said and done, now is all there is, and all there ever has been.

So when you notice that you are wishing you were somewhere else bring yourself back to a state of appreciation for where you are.

For right now, nothing is more important to me than the people that I love. Spending time with them is my priority. I don’t want to look back and have regrets. I just want to give my all while I have it all.