Seasons Change…Eventually

It’s the middle of October and I’m hot! While many places in the rest of this country are now enjoying falling leaves, sweater weather, and sipping on warm Pumpkin-Spiced ANYTHING, we Florida moms are still over here sweating through our yoga pants and chugging our Cold Brew. I’m a Florida transplant by choice, but come on!  Isn’t it time for FALL?!

All the autumn decor in Hobby Lobby won’t even budge the thermometer below 80 degrees.

Looking back, I think I feel this way every single year. Two months into each season, I’m ready for the next one. I revel for about eight weeks and then I’m DONE. Living in the land of seemingly endless summer is not easy for someone like me. When I was a young college student living by the beach, this was paradise. Now that I’m a thirty-something mom with kids who thrive in the outdoors, I’m ready to move on to cooler weather.

Recently, I’ve realized I do this about the seasons of life as well. Having four kids, I’ve done the newborn season four times, and I’m currently in the fourth toddler season. I’ve done the potty-training season 3 times and let me tell you, I’d do just about anything to avoid doing it again! I’ve done the waking-up-at-5-am-to-play season and the I-refuse-to-eat-anything-green season. There are blessings and challenges of each season, and we moms hear it all the time: “Enjoy them while they’re young! They grow up so fast!”

And it’s true, of course, but to a mom in that difficult season, it doesn’t feel fast. 

First, in my case anyway, are the days when I think I will be nauseated the rest of my life. Then there are the days we think we are just going to go right on being pregnant FOREVER. There are the days when we wonder if our infant has something terribly wrong with her since she just will. not. sleep. There are days when we wonder if our toddler is going to go to college still wearing diapers. There are the days when we feel like our preschooler’s tantrums are all our fault. There are the days we feel like our elementary-aged daughter’s new attitude is going to be the death of us. 

That’s the wonderful thing about seasons though. They eventually DO change.

Usually when I take my four girls to any playground, I constantly hear three voices asking for pushes on the swings. This week, however, my second eldest decided she no longer needs to be pushed. At first I felt a sense of excitement…less work for me at the playground! Then suddenly I was hit with the fact that one day I will yearn for this busy season of life once again. 

Winter, spring, summer, and fall continue each year no matter what. Not every year is the same, though. Sometimes we have a shorter spring or a longer summer (like this one!). Some years winter seems to drag on and on, and I start to wonder if we’ll ever have summer again. But it always comes around. Eventually, each season does change.

This thought has been on my mind lately as I’m currently in a season of different challenges. Years ago, an older woman looked at me with my precious newborn as I lamented my sleepless nights and calmly stated, “It won’t always be this hard, I promise.” I wonder if she knew how often I would comfort myself with her words. How sometimes those words are what kept me going. As long as life is going on, there’s always going to be a new season. Eventually.