The other day, I dropped of our second for the last day of pre-K. At the end of this summer, both our kids will now be public school students.
It so happened that I’d miscalculated his last day. I thought it was the following day. So when I realized that I had indeed dropped him off on his last day, I felt a certain sadness.
And after that momentary lull, I realized there was nothing to be sad about. Every drop off was special and I’d made the most of them. That, in turn, is in no small part thanks to this video by Gretchen Rubin – the days are long but the years are short.
I first watched it before I became a parent and I’ve shared it a few times over the years.
Thanks to this ~1 minute video, I’ve remembered to be grateful for the opportunity to enjoy a couple of quiet minutes every day I drop them off. In this case, I had a year with separate drop off stops and that meant some precious time with our second. I did my best to avoid calls (my team knew there was some variability in that early morning call) and just enjoy listening to some music together.
Our walk from the car to drop off was short – but always special. Especially because we always held hands and I enjoyed being able to plant many goodbye kisses. I don’t expect both of those privileges to last long in coming years.
Were it not for that video, I could have easily fallen into the trap that she fell into – taking this privilege for granted. I vividly remember thinking about it when I happily carried one of them when they wanted to be carried. I was in no rush to have either of them walk – I savored that phase while it lasted.
And I still think of its message often – when I drop them off to school, when we hang out outdoors together, and nearly always as we listen to some quiet music as part of our bedtime routine.
There’s a lot I could do better as a parent. Especially of late. I haven’t gotten my work week under control and that’s meant needing more rest over the weekends. I’ve made many mistakes over the years – especially in the early years – and done my best to learn from them. But, thanks to this video, I’ve done my best to savor every bit of time we’ve spent together – both the ordinary and extraordinary moments.
The days are long, but the years are indeed short.
In the video’s description, Gretchen Rubin wrote – “Of everything I’ve ever written, I think this one-minute video is the thing that resonates most with people.”
It may well be true. This has both resonated and transformed how I’ve lived in the past years. Thank you.
