Moments That Take My Breath Away

“Life’s not the breath you take, the breathing in and out,
That gets you through the day, ain’t what it’s all about,
You might just miss the point trying to win the race.
Life’s not the breath you take, but the moments that take your breath away.”
George Strait

I had one of those mornings yesterday. Frustrated over continuing dizziness, very concerned about my upcoming two-and-a-half-hour flight to New York City because of said dizziness, FTS-ing and facing a very messy house that my girls apparently think is cleaned by the cleaning fairy (yes, they actually said that), I snapped at my girls. And I mean really snapped…one of those had-to-stop-myself-from-throwing-something-very-large-across-the-room snaps. This happens pretty rarely as, thankfully, I’m usually pretty easy going, but when it does happen, I must be making up for all the times it doesn’t happen! So, yep, there you have it; I may not share my down moments much (this blog is called Artful Happiness after all), but my life and I are far from perfect.

A bit later, after DH and the girls cleaned up and headed to the park to give me some space, I headed to the grocery store, heard this song on the radio for the first time, and drove across the bridge with tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t wait for my girls to get home from the park so I could hug them. This little face and this little face, they bring the moments that take my breath away, and make the moments that make me want to snap pretty pointless. I’ll do my best to remember that the next time I want to throw a stair basket stuffed full of clothes, shoes and half-empty cracker wrappers across the room.

Head on over to Tracey's blog to see more Best Shot Mondays.

...and in case you were wondering, FTS is the Southern version of PMS. Bonus to the first of you who knows what it stands for!

12 comments:

Beverley Baird said...

It is those moments - when you realize just how precious your loved ones are -that we must be sure to seize!
What a darling photo!

amelia said...

oh I have had those moments! more times than I will count out loud- amazingly, my little people aren't nearly as phased by it as me- it hits me harder than it does them- this is one of the reasons I launched the mothering course, to let myself off the hook for doing it perfectly, probably the best gift you can give yourself. Darling image!

Becca said...

A message to remember. Thanks for sharing.

Mail Art Dramas said...

I give, whats FTS?
I had a melt down last week. I went two months with only the bare minimum of cleaning. paying the price this week. I have to say my major cleaning party is making everyone happy. mess equals stress.
and summer and kids equals mess. no getting around it.
jill

Lis said...

Well, I have no idea what FTS stands for ... female trouble syndrome? Fluctuating Temper Spin? Oh, I give up!

I am laughing over the cleaning fairies ... oh, let us click our heels together and say "we believe!" My daughter reminds me regularly that the fairies have "changed my number" which means made me younger, so the complaint I feel "old and tired" holds no validity for her!

I hope the dizziness is related to FTS ... I have a friend who has gone through a long period with vertigo and it has been so frustrating for her.

And I know those days you write about here ... but we do catch ourselves ...

oh, that face! She would disarm me and any FTS for sure! So so adorable! (and as a redhead, I can only imagine parenting TWO fiery freckled pixies! My one firecracker keeps me humble)

xo Lis

Kelly Warren said...

okay ladies, here you go. we all know what PMS stands for. FTS stands for "fixin' to start." :-)

Anonymous said...

What a touching post, Kelly. I love how a simple song can be so poetically deep at just the right time! That George...

cath c said...

oh good, cause i knew you didn't mean the northern version of FTS which is quite the curse.

we all have days like that, believe me. glad they gave you space and that you hugged them when they returned.

lori vliegen said...

here's to more moments that take our breath away.....even though the throwing-everything-across-the-room stuff happens more than we'd like, too! i hope your dizzy spells go away and you're feeling good for your new york trip!! xox, :)))

chrissy said...

you aren.t alone dear friend.
thank you for being brave and opening up.
that.s what is so beautiful about this blog community...it seems that when we open up, we find that we aren.t alone in our trials after all.
hope you are feeling better.
i DO love your little red heads too.
much love to you.
chrissy

Carole Emerson said...

Hey, Kelly....
Fixin' to Start... :O) makes us all edgy.
Praying against dizziness and a successful "shopping trip" in NYC. Safe travels, my friend.

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