Together Is My Favorite - Lisa Hessel, MA, PLPC

Something crazy happened the day before I sent my three kids back to elementary, middle and high school this year: there were no sports practices and we all went out together for a bite to eat. If you're the parent of an athlete, you know just how rare these occasions can be.The restaurant was predictably noisy and filled to the brim with classmates and neighbors. But somehow, our table felt peaceful and still. We were together

Deep breath...Together....Together is my favorite.

It took some effort, but I took another breath and gave myself 10 seconds to simply feel grateful that the people I love most in the world were in the same place at the same time with nothing else to do but laugh and fill our bellies with our favorite food.

And 10 seconds was almost too much for me. I immediately felt gratitude. Of course I did. Immense gratitude. But I also felt sadness. Sadness that in a few blinks, we won't all live in the same city anymore. Such lament because dang it, this stage of parenting has just started to be so SO good - it feels like I've come alive because I was made for this- and now it's almost over. And somewhat paradoxically I felt the warmth of joy. Deep joy, that while these gatherings are too few, we were together now, and gosh the sweet, sweet now of being present together sung to my spirit. I shouldn't have been surprised that gratitude mingled with so many other feels. As our beloved Brene Brown says, you can't selectively numb your emotions. When you open yourself up to feel, you open yourself up to feel it all.

And then the moment these rich, wonderfully complex emotions was over because our food had come to the table, which, to be fair, I wasn't TOO mad about because I had been thinking about that spicy nashville chicken sandwich all. day. long.

Loving these people is costly, rewarding, heartbreaking and one of the most worthwhile things I'll do with my life. And I'm so glad I had 10 seconds to revel in love's complexity.