Mothers face great number of challenges on a daily basis. They don’t have it easy as they are constantly torn between cleaning sticky hands and faces, piles of laundry, feeding the kids and getting them ready for school, and a bunch of other duties and errands they have to run over and over again during the day.
No matter how much they try to have everything done, there is always a mess coming from around the corner such as spilled milk, scattered toys you are very much likely to step on, and stains all over the place. Having a quick shower before going to bed or taking some time for yourself is a luxury not many mothers can afford.
A woman named Heather Duckworth who went through all these struggles and joys of being a mother, had recently shared a touching post about the things we take for granted while raising our kids. All these messes they leave behind are inseparable part of the process of growing up in front of our eyes and becoming the people we always hoped they’ll become. That is why, no matter how hard and impossible that seems, we have to strive to find the joy between the messes our little ones make, for one day they will be the greatest reminder of the childhood we as parents provided for them. Unfortunately, there are women out there who don’t get to experience the chaos and the clutter children make, or bereaved parents who lost their little trouble maker and now those masses are just a reminder of the child once made their life complete.
Heather’s post titled “The Blue Stain” that has gone viral touched the hearts of many mothers and mothers-to-be.
As Heather was trying to scrub the grout her daughter made with the slime, her heart started bouncing as she recalled the mess she had to clean years ago.
This mother of two-year-old triplets and a four-year-old big brother would spend most of her days chasing her kids, picking toys after them, making sure no one gets hurt in the piles of laundry she couldn’t do that day because of the many other things she had to take care of, but as she says,“My hands were full, but so was my heart.”
That evening, before going to bed, Heather and her boys were dancing to the music coming from the radio as they were putting the toys in their place. None of them could imagine that would be the last time in a while they had so much fun.
Just as she though the boys were getting to sleep and she gets some time to rest herself, she heard one of the kids say, “Uh, Oh” and that’s when she discovered the big blue stain that will remain with her forever. One of the triplets was clutching a pen that exploded in his hand and sprayed ink all over the place. The little boy resembled a smurf as his hands, face, and his pajamas were all colored in a bright blue color. Seeing this, Heather got frustrated and felt as though she failed at her mother’s role. She wasn’t mad at her son, but she blamed herself for placing the pen in the reach of the children. She let her emotions take over.
“I gasped as I saw blue splatters across the floor and a thick pool of ink sinking into our carpet – our brand new carpet. I quickly yelled for my husband, who had been doing the dishes, to come and help me. I instantly felt so upset as I grabbed my son and took him to the bathroom to clean him up and my husband started scrubbing those bright blue stains on our carpet.”
The stain couldn’t be cleaned from the brand new carpet, and any time Heather would notice that stain, she would feel frustration an anger all over again. Until the day the stain remained a symbol of all the beautiful moments she could spend with her boys.
Only one month after the blue stain got on their carpet, the boy who made that mess was diagnosed with cancer, and two years later he passed away, leaving the stain behind him to remind his loved ones of the time they spent together.
“It was still there . . . and now . . . it was a constant reminder of my son. It was a constant reminder of my frustration over something so trivial . . . something so unimportant in the scheme of life.
That blue stain was a constant reminder that life is messy, but that’s what makes it worth living. A constant reminder to not sweat the small stuff. A constant reminder that ‘things’ aren’t important, but people are. A constant reminder that accidents happen. A constant reminder to let go of the little things and hang on tight to what is important.”
She tried hiding that stubborn bright blue stain under the furniture but every time she would clean the place it would stare back at her, reminding her of her pain and her loss.
Heather’s story is there to teach us that we very often take things for granted and fail to enjoy the little things in life that make us who we are. She wants to tell all the mothers out there that the piles of laundry and toys are what make the house a home. Those messes are created by the most important people in our life; those messes Heather refers to as “a blessing in disguise” are what make our lives worth living because there comes a time when we dearly miss those moments. “I would have a million blue ink stains on my carpet if it meant I could have one more day with my son.”
Her message for the mothers is that they mustn’t allow to be absorbed by what is happening around them because that wouldn’t let them enjoy the time with their children. Always focus on what is important, because life is too short to spend it on rubbing stains.
