Art Therapy Week 11: Writing a goodbye letter

Routines.
Everyone stresses about keeping routines, especially for children.
But what happens when nothing in your routine has changed and yet, things change.
I know, I am still talking about the no napping toddler here and I promise that this will be the last time that I talk about this subject. It has been challenging and is taking me a little bit longer to get back into the groove of things. I have been working on my art journal through out which has helped to relax me. I have completed zentangles for week 9 & 10.

For week 11 I decided to work on what I am going through right now and that is how I am dealing with saying goodbye to nap time. I thought about how I was grieving over it. It is a loss, perhaps not in the sense that most people would think, but loss takes on many different forms. When dealing with grief and loss writing letters can be one of the most therapeutic way of "letting go". So here is my letter.

Dear Nap Time,
March 11, 2015

Hello. I am not sure where you are, but I wanted to write to you to let you know how much I appreciated you. In those early days of motherhood when I could hardly see straight, just when I thought I could not take anymore, you would come along and I could close my eyes for just long enough to get through two more hours of breastfeeding. You were inconsistent at first. I took some convincing (swing and vacuum app) for you to settle in, but when you did it gave me a moment to breathe and to eat. I miss you naps. I thought it was hard when we went from two naps to just one. It was different, but eventually we made it through and realized that one really good nap was better than two small ones. You helped not only me, but my little one. You made her able to function in the afternoon and straight through dinner time.

About a month ago, without warning you vanished. You didn't even give me a heads up. I was mad. I was mad at you for not being around to help me, but I figured it was just a weird day and that you would be back the next day to give me a change to catch up on Mad Men, but the following day, you were a no show. A month has officially gone by and I have realized that you are gone forever (except if we are in the car, of course). I want you to know how much you helped me and I am now ready to let you go.