Her solution to this problem?
She crawled.
She crawled up the stairs so that she could get to their bedrooms and do one of the things that she cherished most in life.
That one simple act speaks volumes to me about the love and devotion that this young mother had for her two little children.
If you are a young mother and you are reading this right now, I pray that you will etch that scene into your memory. That scene of a woman struggling to crawl up the stairs to be with her children.
How many times have you sped through the bedtime routine with your children? How many times have you dreaded brushing teeth and putting pajamas on squirming (and sometimes uncooperative) bodies? How many times have you purposefully whipped through a short storybook and given quick kisses on foreheads just before turning out the lights? How many times have you dreaded the process and hurried through it, as a result? How many times have you just tried to survive through it rather than soak it in?
I know how exhausting it can be at the end of the day when you have a household of small children. Sometimes, you find yourself dragging once bedtime rolls around, and all you want to do is get through it so that you can sit down and relax a bit.
But, I would like to challenge all of us moms to remember Lori’s story when we find that we are having one of those nights.
Remember that she wanted so badly to be able to continue to put her children to bed each night, but she is no longer here to do it.
Remember that, even when she couldn’t walk up the stairs to get to her children’s bedrooms, she crawled.
Let’s honor her by looking forward to bedtime instead of dreading it.
Let’s honor her by cherishing what she cherished.
Let’s honor her by remembering that she crawled.
This article originally appeared Parks Recreation.
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