Two 2-year-old twins, a 3-month-old baby, and the chaos that turned into pure bliss thanks to a phrase

Having children usually means signing up for a few years of chaos – okay, a few decades. Our lives become a roller coaster ride where it is easy to lose sight of love on a day-to-day basis while we overestimate daily stress…

Anna Strode, the mom behind @bubs2bikinis, was an exhausted mother who ventured to a cafe in the city with her three young children: twin boys, Lachie and Sammy, 2 years old, and Madi, just 3 months old. As brave Anna dealt with a spilled cup of hot chocolate on the table, with one boy in tears, with the other running electrically between the tables, and with the tired and whimpering baby in her lap, she heard a gentleman’s whisper to his wife at one of the nearby tables:“Those were the best days of our lives!”

Almost shocked, Anna instinctively turned to the couple and asked,“Serious?”

The lady, serenely, replied with a smile and a look that shone with charm, longing and emotion: “The best days of our lives. Fired!”.

Those words from the elderly couple had an immediate impact on Anna. She shared this moment on Instagram, saying: “The chaos around me suddenly didn’t feel painful or frustrating anymore. I wanted to bottle it up and STOP time because I realised in that moment that one day my babies will be all grown up with their own babies and they won’t need me anymore”.

Anna added, in a statement to the Scary Mommy website: “The comment from the old man has truly helped me see even the hardest days as a gift. It’s really made me try and focus on living in the moment and enjoying each day, even the most challenging ones! I love that sharing this has also helped other moms stop and appreciate these days. We’re all in this together, and if I can help other moms see the good in the challenges, then that makes me feel happy.”

As our children grow, the crying jags and temper tantrums get shorter and eventually disappear altogether, but the cuddles and comfort sessions get a little shorter too. Watching our little ones get older, more independent, and “easier” is the definition of bittersweet.

“One day we’re going to miss all this,” Strode concludes. “Sure, these days can be hard, they can be testing, they can be down right challenging but I bet you a million bucks, they will be the best damn days of our lives.”