best time of your life?

Met a friend of mine, Faith, at the mall a few days ago to get out of the house, let the kids play together and get some nice adult conversation squeezed in there. I have 3 children, she has 3 and is expecting numero 4 soon. I shared with her a quote I read in the Reader's Digest, "Want to know what it's like to have 4 children? Pretend you are drowning and have someone throw you a 4th child." Hahaha. Oh come on, it's funny!

Well, she only shared a light chuckle. Turns out Faith's mother told her that this is the best time of her life. I said, "Well, every time is the best time of your life. There are things happening right now in this stage of life you will never be able to have again. Every stage has something like that. They are each the best time of your life." Faith pointed out what she'll miss when her children are older and how at some point, it will be the final time you are ever pregnant. Those are significant milestones for mommies!

So I stated my feel-good (though I do believe it) thought, finished my Japanese (yummy) mall food and moved on to stashing my monkeys in the van. And then I started thinking: WAIT. WHAT IF THIS REALLY IS THE BEST TIME IN MY LIFE? And I thought about all I have now that I won't have later; all the positive ones:
time with just me and the kids on a daily basis
an immeasurable amount of influence over their little selves
almost exclusive control over what those kids are exposed to and influenced by
chances to snuggles sleepy babies
light kisses on warm foreheads unmarred by acne, oil or a scrunch as the mom leans in for a kiss
the chance to carry them down the stairs when they are tired
the chance to cuddle them on my lap when they are sick
being stronger and faster
watching a face light up when they learn something new
being able to get a smile just by pretending to be scared when they "sneak" up on me
saying, "You're going to eat those," being enough to see the carrots vanish
watching their little bums jiggle as they run away laughing when they should be in the bath

Really. What if THIS is THE BEST time in all of my life??? I have plans for the future (a few actually), believe me. I want to learn French and with a newly attained nursing degree do charity work in Haiti. I want to get a nursing degree, combine it with my counseling degree and make buckets of money in the US prescribing psychiatric meds. I want to travel Europe with my automatic vacation partner (he knows who he is). I want to be a nurse midwife. I want to really learn how to sing and participate in the church choir. I want to have time to make my church lessons all cute with visual aids. I want to cuddle my grandkids and worry over how their parents are bringing them up. I want to nag my husband about renovating the house and adding a back deck. I want to wake up to the sun rising in my backyard and see nothing else besides it and the field.

I have all these wonderful plans. All these amazing and beautiful and exciting things I've wanted to do forever and new ones that develop as life goes along. ALL of these things I consciously chose to put on hold when I became a mother. I chose to dedicate my time, talents and energies to raising the most well-adjusted, kind, contributing members of society I could muster. (Perhaps the most telling sign is that a decided to not let getting up at all hours of the night bother me. And then I worked until that decision came to pass.) I knew my life was essentially having the "pause" button pushed. But what if I was wrong? What if this really is it? What if this is the best time of my life? That no matter what castle I finally get to visit or child I am blessed to vaccinate or car I'm able to afford  or hours of sleeping in ever compares to what I do now on a daily basis? If that's legit then I can't let this pass by!!!

I need to soak it up and enjoy each second! If you knew you were eating THE BEST steak ever produced and this would be the only time you would ever spend the money to eat it, would you not savor each and every bite??!!!?!?!?! You'd gently cut it into small pieces (I don't advocate doing that to children), skewer each one on your fork (again, not advocating) individually, place it on your tongue and close your eyes as you chewed (yet again...). Well, that's what I'd do anyway. (Can you tell I wish I'd ordered steak tonight instead of chicken?) I read an article once on how adults with children are more stressed than those without. BUT in the long run, they are happier.

See, all these other plans I have sound wonderful, but I just don't see how when it comes down it, they will ever compare with those giggles and smiles and scribbled paper. Maybe it's because they are all asleep right now.... but really, I just don't get how it could compare. There is a tremendous truth to each time period being the best in your life, but I think I'm living my peak. Glad I realized it before it is too late to appreciate.