only a moment

On Sunday afternoon, as I was picking up toys and cleaning up the house, Luca was driving me crazy. It seemed as though he had a list of things he is not supposed to do and was just checking off one by one. As I moved about the house and repeated "Luca. Don't do that, please" endlessly, I started to get frustrated. I found myself wanting to yell at him at the top of my lungs and then, out of nowhere, I recalled an article that I read last year in O Magazine.


The actress Julianna Margulies talks about how it took one moment for her to understand the words that her mother had been telling her for a lifetime. She had just gone back to work from maternity leave and her son, then 5 and 1/2 monts old, was up crying in the middle of the night. Overwhelmed and frustrated, thinking about how she needed to be up early the next day, her mother's words came rushing back "this is only a moment; it's not the rest of your life." Right then, she finally got the point and calmed down immediately. Her mother's words put the moment in perspective.

So, much like Julianna, those words came to me and I paused for a second. I could continue my miserable state and keep scolding Luca, holding back the urge to yell, or I could give him the attention he was looking for and make us both happy. As I sat down with him and put a puzzle together and cuddled and kissed him, I realized that this IS just a moment. I think Julianna's mom meant to put some perspective on negative situations, but her wise words also ring true for treasurable moments. I will blink and Luca will be 15 and the last thing on his wish list will be to spend time playing and cuddling with mom.

A little later, Luca now happy and calm, I finished up what I was doing.