Chasing the Moon

Hubby is gone for a few days for work, so tonight the kids and I called a cab and headed out on an adventure to the mall. I'd like to give a shout out to my new best friend, IKEA, for their free child-care, and warehouse full of cheap housewares for me to breathe and browse while the two oldest Bugs play.

We ate dinner, played at IKEA, looked for a baby gate in another store (I really need one to keep Doodlebug out of the kitchen, ya know), shared an iced (decaf) coffee, looked for pants for Stinkbug, ran to the bathroom because MOMMYIREALLYHAVETOPEE,I'MGONNAPEEMYPANTSRIGHTNOW happened. And then we hopped into another cab with my IKEA bag (I got a new pillow), and rode home.

As we exited the highway my eye caught sight of a huge faintly glowing orb hanging low in the nearly black sky. I pointed it out to the kids, and they tried to track the moon from the window as the taxi turned and turned before depositing us outside our building.

The Bugs were still asking about the moon when we got out of the cab, so I asked if they wanted to hunt it down and see if we could catch it. Ears perked, eyes brightened. Imaginary flashlights flickered on and we were off. We walked and walked and I was worrying a little that because of the mess of cars and buildings and city life, we wouldn't be able to glimpse the moon again, but we turned one last corner and there it was. Glorious harvest moon. Breath-takingly beautiful in the dark night.

We stopped to appreciate its hugeness and then the kids ran off to try and get closer. 

Come on, mommy, we have to catch it!

At last, we tired of stalking the moon (we had expended a lot of energy at the mall already...), and we trooped back home. On the way, Stinkbug keep asking me to point out the moon to him. He wanted to catch every sight of it he possibly could before it disappeared from view. I smiled at his amazement, a good reminder for me to stop and enjoy.

As I went through the evening chaos monotony routine (potty, brush teeth, pajamas, devotions, track down loveys, get water cups, potty again, kiss goodnight), my heart just felt lighter. I'm glad I went on a moon-chase whim tonight. It felt good to throw normalcy and schedule to the wind, and click on my imaginary magical flashlight (Ladybug's idea) and hunt down the big, beautiful moon.

That particular moon-- the glowing orange ball, as perfectly round as a dinner plate, hanging eerily low over our city-- will never exist again. But it will forever live in my heart-- along with Ladybug's eager running ahead to catch a glimpse, and Stinkbug's wild exclaiming about the size of the moon. 

Let us not forget as moms to hold our routines, our normalcy, our sanity, our plans in open hands, and instead hold tightly to the little ones who will forever be slipping like water from our fingers. Chase the moon. Seize the moment. Enjoy your kids.