Turn an Interruption Into a Memory

Unexpected reading time with my daughter

The other morning, I had just sat down to write, and I heard a noise from the baby monitor.

My nearly 3-year-old daughter woke up an hour before she normally does, and I was a little frustrated. I work a full-time job, so the hour before my kids wake up is prime reading and writing time for me that is difficult to replace later in the day.

So when I heard noise on the baby monitor, I saw an hour of “my” time go out the window. I instantly knew I would be scrambling the rest of the day to get the writing I needed to be done (or I’d have to stay up late that night).

As I went up the stairs to get her, I had this frustration swirling inside me. But when I opened the door to her room, I decided to embrace the moment as it was and try to turn it into a positive part of my day.

My sweet daughter was also a little disoriented because she woke up so early, so I looked at her and asked if she wanted to go downstairs and read with me. She nodded. I got her out of her crib, grabbed some books for her, and we sat down together to read side by side.

We don’t read our own books side by side very often, so this became a special moment to me. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come, where we spend hours reading together as she grows older and we love the same stories.

This moment with my daughter reminded me that life is full of interruptions, and that’s okay. When you’re interrupted, you are faced with 2 choices: embrace the interruption or complain.

As Gandalf said in The Lord of the Rings, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

We don’t get to choose what interrupts us, but we choose how we respond. That morning with my daughter taught me that a memorable moment is always around the corner.

I’m thankful for all of you trying to find goodness each day alongside me.

-Mark