“There is nothing worse than happy children.” I overheard my mom saying this phrase to adults hundreds of times when I was a child. I would put on a quarter-size smile but I did NOT understand.

• How could nothing be worse than… sweaty loud on a summer day? Was she kidding… that was the best!
• How could nothing be worse than… sitting at the pool with dozens of kids? Was she kidding… that was the best!
• How could nothing be worse than… running through the house with my sisters and brothers while she was making dinner? Was she kidding… that was the best!

And then it happened.

My three kids somehow had grown old enough and self-sufficient enough for me to feel it. I was trying to organize all of us for an international trip. And somehow all three kids were playfully chasing each other around the main floor laughing hysterically.

I stopped in my tracks. I suddenly, unexpectedly, understood. I hadn’t even known that my brain remembered the expression or that it was still trying to figure it out. Wow! How true it is… “there is nothing worse than happy children!”

Thank you, Carol Heideman!