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Surviving Is Enough: A Note for the Moms in the Middle of May
Published 5/29/26
It's that time of year. Showcases, performances, banquets, parties.
Field day, crazy hair day, teacher appreciation day. All the days. All at once.
(East coasters, you're almost there. Hang on.)
This is a moonshot month. We're all doing all the things and we're all in it together. I'm out of that phase now. My last kid is graduating, and honestly, empty nester feelings are their own thing entirely. And I know how it sounds when someone like me says to find gratitude in the chaos. It's always easier to see the beauty once the intensity has passed.
So I won't tell you to enjoy every minute. Surviving it might be all you've got right now. That's enough.
But here's what I know from the other side. You won't remember if the costume came unglued. You won't remember your toddler's dramatic thumbs down as the sixth grade orchestra fought to find the notes. The hard parts fade. And so do the tiny details — the ones that are actually proof of how good it is.
Take the photos. Unposed, unstaged, out of focus. Because a decade from now, that messy face won't just look dirty. It will look like a well-loved ice cream cone on the way home from the choir concert. And you will miss it.
It's a lot. It's not perfect. That's what makes it real. And real is something we could all use a little more of, whatever phase we're in.
— Vanessa