Sarah, at Clover Lane, wrote a beautiful post on Fortitude.  Please take a moment to go read it.

She was able to put into words exactly what my experience has been.  It isn’t the “mommy time” – the pedicures, the tea with friends, the afternoon shopping without my two year old – that sustains me.  It is the quiet time I take each day that sustains me.

All of these “mommy time” events cost money and what is the long term benefit?  They refresh and revive you for a moment, but there is not a long term benefit.

Sarah says it best:  We are looking in the wrong places perhaps. Perhaps our recharge is not “out there”. Perhaps it cannot be bought, or stolen, or compacted into minutes, or hours or a few short days.  Perhaps it must be constant and is only found inside of us. A daily commitment to find a moment of solitude, to let our hearts and minds be still. A daily commitment to remind ourselves of what kind of mothers we intend to be for our children.

The benefit of these moments is what will last.  This is what will sustain us through all the ups and downs, the minutes, hours, and years of motherhood.

Many have said it before, money can’t buy happiness and this is yet another perfect example of that.