I saw her. Sitting next to her mom. Legs crossed. Hair in a messy bun. She had on sunglasses and was sipping Starbucks. Quietly “people watching” as her mom was busy chatting away with a friend. “She” was at most 3 years old. I thought to myself, “That girl is living her best life,” but then stopped and wondered, “Is she?”
I stopped and looked down beside me at my own toddler. She started her day out with her hair in the perfectly braided piggy tails. Dressed in jean shortalls and a cute top, we started our day quietly reading books. Now, however, the day was mostly over. My little girl was a HOT MESS!
Her piggy tails were coming undone and were ratted from being outside in the heat and rolling around in the grass. Her shirt had a red mark on it, probably from the popsicle she had consumed a few hours prior. She was “talking” to me non-stop as she held my hand, her sticky little hand squeezing mine tight… walking isle by isle… proclaiming “oh gosh” at every new item she could see. This girl, my girl, is “living the best life.” Wait, no, they both are. Each in their own way, maybe?
I quietly wondered to myself 1) why did I even notice/think that little one’s life was the best and 2) why did I care? Perhaps the constant mirage of those picture-perfect moments I get hit with on social media have been so burned into my subconscious that somehow, I now believe this is how life should be? A constant state of judging others and the belief that a child who is 2 or 3 could even possibly know or be close to “living their best life.”
Here is the reality though! My little one would never be content sitting perfectly quiet, sipping Starbucks and essentially being ignored by the adults around her. This simply isn’t HER personality or HER version of “best life.” She can play on her own, quietly, but that picture-perfect moment I had witnessed with that other little miss just wasn’t ever in the cards for my girlie! However, that little miss seemed perfectly content sitting with her mom and enjoying her beverage of choice.
At the end of the day, what mattered most was both of those little girls were happy and content with their mommas – and the best parts of their lives are yet to be!
