As I was reading through Seeds Natural Food Market owner Tina Willard-Stepan’s Mompreneur Profile last week, I was entirely inspired to see her talking about times and places for what is important in life.

Her wise insight about childhood being too short and that putting many of the things she’d enjoy doing on the back burner to provide balance completely hit home for me.

Making peace with what you give up in the name of parenthood is a huge deal that no one ever tells you is part of the process.

And the juggling done in the midst of that peace making to ensure balance and goodness are top on the list is a challenge that I struggle with all too often - sometimes successfully, other times with a less than positive outcome.

In the last couple of months, the workload around here has taken off, and in the last few weeks it has just exploded.

And yesterday, after those few weeks of stumbles and navigational bumps along with a fair bit of renegotiating of life that comes with big changes, I took a few minutes, stepped back, regrouped.

I needed a reality check, and heard Tina’s words in my head:

” I am dedicated to being as present as I can with my children…This time with my children will pass quickly…it’s not my time.”

They’ve been with me all week - and I have to say, have become the mantra that has kept me focused on the one thing that is important beyond everything else going on day to day - our daughter.

It’s a bit of a remarkable phenomenon, but Tina’s words offered that hand of support. The exponential busy factor has made me rethink so much about how I work, where time is spent and what goes on every day.

By keeping her ideas in mind, I felt empowered and even more focused on the time our daughter and I spend together.

I should thank moms more often, as the community of motherhood offers so much strength and inspiration.

Thank you Tina, for inspiring a quiet alphabet walk through the forest (we found I, U, V,W, X and Y):

With the increase in my time spent in the “office,” we do a lot of negotiating - if mom has 15 more minutes of work time, we get to spend an hour at the library. Let’s go to this meeting and then we’ll take a walk at a nearby park. And on it goes.

Our daughter very open to this and has taken to making up games that keep us going throughout the day. She likes the negotiation factor so much that the tiny person has also taken to cutting me deals - which I appreciate from a creative standpoint although am not so inclined to go for.

In the midst of these talks, I go back to the mantra to make sure the final result is about time well spent. Thank you Tina for giving us room to spend an inspired hour break at the park:

We rounded out the week - on a day where work stress hit maximum - making lemonade out of lemons at a fun backyard play date with some of the tiny person’s favourite friends. Thanks Tina, for giving me a tool to keep from letting work overwhelm family.

Every day, when life gets cockeyed, I go back to the mantra. Then, the tiny person and I get creative, figure out a fun way to share some time together, and get cracking.

This thing - this give and take between us born out of the need to ensure my time with her is dedicated and I am present - has fostered something in us that I never expected - an even deeper connection to the collective of motherhood.

We make it through the day and learn to thrive by lending that supportive hand and sticking together…and that is truly inspiring.

Thanks.