Our 5am Mother-Daughter Date
You may have noticed me ask the following question on our Facebook page last week:
My 11 year old wants to go to Peet's coffee at 5am for a mother-daughter date! Would you get up at 5am for a mother-daughter date?
The response was overwhelming. Everyone said “Yes!.”
I was pretty sure I would, but then I was certain. This was an opportunity not to be missed.
For those who encouraged me to go, and those who are just interested, here is a little recap of our morning:
My daughter wanted to get up at 5am and head straight to Peet's coffee.
I set my alarm and woke up right before it went off. Actually I was kind of restless all night, worried I'd miss the alarm and she would be terribly disappointed.
I crept into her room and heard her sleeping deeply. She was a little excited the night before and had a hard time falling asleep. I couldn't help feeling concerned about how cranky she might be on such little shut eye.
Have you been around sleep-deprived children? Um, Yeah.
I gently rubbed her arm and told her it was time to wake up. I even asked if she was sure she wanted to get up now and go. She said, “Yes!”
Leaving her to get ready, I went back to my own room and threw on some jeans and a sweater. No time for make up.
We got in the car and drove about 15 minutes to our destination.
It was dark.
It was cold.
But we were giggling.
Upon entering we were surprised by how empty it was. I thought people got their coffee fix early. Well, I guess not that early.
We had to keep our coats on. It was cold in there!
We sipped our coffee and chatted about lots of different things. Every now and then she put her head down and said how tired she was. In fact, she even suggested we go at 6am next time.
We left around 6:30 and decided to take a little drive to see if many people we out on the walking trail. We drove down to a beautiful part of the coast and were pleased to see lots of people running and walking. We decided to join them.
The beautiful views fueled our chatter and encouraged some impromptu photo snapping.
We talked and talked.
I listened quite a bit.
She told me the name of her future son.
We stop to take pictures.
“This is so much fun!,” burst from her lips over and over again.
We plan our next date.
We talk about deep things and funny things.
By 8am we headed over to Trader Joe's. We love buying groceries there but have a hard time getting over to this area to do it. So, since we were already here we did a quick grocery shop before heading home. It's the only time I've been able to park at Trader Joe's with ease.
Do you know what I heard on the way home?
Words like:
“You are the best mom!”
“You are the prefect mom for me.”
“I want to be just like you when I grow up.”
“I love being with you.”
I know I'm not the “best” or “perfect.” But God did put us together. And I'm grateful.
My weary body and sand-papery eyes felt happy that the slight physical discomfort of getting up so early had made sweet memories for my precious daughter (and me) and hopefully laid one more brick in the foundation of our relationship.
That’s really beautiful. I don’t have a relationship with my mother, but I hope that my future daughter feels the way about me that your daughter does about you. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks, Kim. One of the best things about having kids is that it gives you the opportunity to create a family the way you think is best. It’s a chance to give something you didn’t have.
I hope you do have a daughter in the future! If you intentionally love her and spend time with her, she will think you are the best thing ever! 🙂
So sweet! That explains the early morning alarm clock pic on your Instagram the other day! Glad you had a wonderful time together!
Yes, that was the alarm clock picture! It was soooo early 🙂 But totally worth it.
i knew it would be wonderful when you asked that question!! Im so happy you had this very special time. Girls are hard to raise, especially when puberty hits. This time with her and more of them will help with that and not make it a rough period at all. Blessings to you and her.
Thank you so much, Phidelia. I’ve been wondering about the teen years and puberty lately. My only real thought of what to do was to spend bunches of time with her. Thanks for confirming that for me. I appreciate it.
Aw, that is so sweet! Thank you for sharing the update!
My husband and I have instituted a monthly “date/special time” with each of our 3 daughters.
On the day of their birthday every month, one of us takes them out for a special date.
They pick what we do. It makes them feel extra special. We each get to bond with our girls and they don’t feel like they are never heard. We love it!
What a great idea, Aria! It’s wonderful that you are making time to do this with your daughters every month! What an investment you are making.
Thanks for sharing.
Praise God for that sweet time. 🙂 Awesome!!
Thanks, Hy. It was lovely.
I saw you had a sweet date with one of your little men recently, too.
What a lovely post and what a sweet precious time for both of you.
Thanks, Lynda. It was such a nice morning.
Reading this made my heart smile! Sound like you made wonderful memories today, thank you for sharing your morning with us.
Thank you, Amy Jo. I’m glad it gave you a heart smile 🙂 Thanks for your kind words.
That sounds like such a PERFECT mother-daughter outing.
I am curious, though. Is there something special about 5:00am that caused her to pick such an EARLY hour?
So glad you were able to create such a memorable nostalgia for your daughter. She will forever reminisce over that morning.
My daughter noticed that the coffee shop opened at 5am last time we walked past. For some reason she just really wanted to go right close to opening time. I’m glad I went with it instead of talking her out of it, since now she made up her own mind to do the next date at 6am instead 🙂
I just love this–though it’s not what I thought it was going to be! My 9-year-old son and I had a 2am “date” recently. Well, sort of. Neither one of us could sleep, and we sat out on the front porch for an hour and watched the clouds blow over the moon while we let ourselves get sleepy enough to head back to bed.
But I supposed a mother-child date should actually be on purpose….and I just love what you planned for yours. That morning sounds like such a sweet memory for both of you to keep!
I like your 2am date! Those times are always special. He probably hopes to be “not sleepy’ again soon so he can watch the clouds blow over the moon with you 🙂
I love that you did this. It’s so much sweeter than just telling him to lay down and go back to sleep!