When your children are close in age, motherhood feels like fast-forward—and it’s bittersweet

I’m a mother of children close in age. And what I will never be prepared for is how quickly the firsts and lasts come and go.

Everything is on fast-forward as you are asked to survive and thrive in such a short space of time. You watch them grow up one right after the other. Suddenly, you have new milestones that creep up on you and lasts that you don’t have time to process fully.

You are only ever stopped in your tracks when your youngest or last baby has a last. As you take a moment to breathe, you are faced with the realization that in the intensity of the season your motherhood has already changed.

It feels like you have said “hello” and “goodbye” to multiple versions of your children without getting the chance to get to know them all completely. And like a punch to the gut, it hurts. 

But in time (which you do get back), you see the bigger picture. You see them together thriving and cheering each other on. You see them filling the gaps with moments you couldn’t give them on your own even if you had the time.

Above all else, you realize that not every second of every day needs to be a memory of you. It can, in fact, be a memory of feeling loved by you and those special others who share your heart, too.

[This post was originally published by @wordsof_emmaheaphy on Instagram and has been republished with permission from the author.]