I packed away children’s art supplies and felt an ache I couldn’t immediately explain

Dear Delyara, Maybe because I know these phases pass. The crayons, the glue sticks with their caps missing, the little scraps of paper with bright intentions on them, the mess of imagination still visible on the table — all of it reminded me that one day these exact kinds of messes will stop. They’ll be replaced by other things. Older things. Harder things. More private things. And I know I will miss even this version of inconvenience. That is one of the most painful truths about motherhood for me: how often the thing that currently tires you is the same thing you will later grieve when time removes it without asking whether you were ready. I packed the supplies into the box more gently after that thought.