Today's post is the second in my new guest post series: Making Time for What Matters. In case you missed it, be sure to read the first post by blogger, microphilanthropy advocate, and aspiring social entrepreneur, Peter Deitz.
Emily McKhann is co-founder of TheMotherhood.com and The Motherhood Creative. She's also the co-author of Living with the End in Mind: A Practical Checklist for Living Life to the Fullest by Embracing Your Mortality
. You can follow her on Twitter at @EmilyMcKhann, and connect with her on Facebook.
I wish I could say I have this all worked out, but some daysare better than others, and I’m learning as I go. Below are four stories from along the way.
. You can follow her on Twitter at @EmilyMcKhann, and connect with her on Facebook.I wish I could say I have this all worked out, but some daysare better than others, and I’m learning as I go. Below are four stories from along the way.
Breakfast is funny
Being present makes for the best start tothe day.
When my girls were little, we created "breakfast is funny." Getting everyone out the door to school was becoming stressful and Ididn’t like starting the day off that way. Our solution was to insert sillyhumor, like giving the cereals whacky names, telling old knock-knock jokes ortalking in funny voices, just to get everyone laughing.
“Breakfast is funny” lives on in our family, not every day,but often enough, because when we joke around first thing in the morning, thewhole day takes on a different tone. We slow down, look each other in theeyes, really listen, and just enjoy ourselves. And then we head off intothe world with a lighter step.
Charlie’s quilt
It’s the little things that add up.
It’s the little things that add up.
At the holidays, the grown-ups in my family have a "whiteelephant" exchange. We rummage through our homes to find stuff we want toget rid of, and give them as presents. The “gifts” can be hilarious andevery year has its surprises. I’ll never forget the year my Uncle Charliegave stacks of shoeshine chamois cloths
A year or so after the "chamois Christmas," at Charlie’s 75thbirthday party, Katie handed him a bag, much like the one she’d received,and Charlie pulled out a quilt she'd made from the cloths. The chamoiswere embellished with the names of the different hotels, written in beautifulscripts with drawings of their facades, and the colors were a mix of creams,browns, reds and light blues. It was the softest, most unique and gorgeousquilt you can imagine.
We knew that this was Charlie’s last birthday because hiscancer had spread. The quilt symbolized the great big enormous hug we all werethere to give him.
The big picture
Life is short and sometimes taking a breakto think about the big picture is what’s needed most.
Life is short and sometimes taking a breakto think about the big picture is what’s needed most.
My friends Erin and Doug took a weekend to talk about theirhopes and dreams for their young daughter, Peyton. At a friend’s house inthe mountains, they sat with their laptops and created lists of the traits andvalues they hoped to instill in Peyton, experiences they wanted to share withher, trips they wanted to take together, and even books they wanted to read withPeyton.
When they returned, Erin told me over and over how theirmountaintop conversations changed her parenting. Peyton wasonly two years old then, but Erin’s relationship with her shifted in big waysafterward. For example, Erin and Doug decided that they hoped Peyton wouldgrow up trusting her own decision-making. Knowing that, when Peytonasked a question, instead of answering it right away as Erin used to do, she asked, “How do you think we can figure this out?” She had a whole newcontext for their relationship.
The impetus for their weekend away was that Erin had cancer, andit had metastasized. At the time, she thought their lists would sitin a file for when Peyton was older. Instead, for four full years, Erinreferred back to their conversations often as she made
“Oh hon, I’ve so beenthere”
We’re making things a littlebetter every day.
We’re making things a littlebetter every day.
InTheMotherhood.com, the community I co-founded with Cooper Munroe, on moreoccasions than I can possibly count, women have shown up for each other to sayexactly what was needed in the moment. Being reminded every daythat the conversations
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How do you make time for what matters?
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