Thursday, June 27, 2013

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping.....

Maybe you remember being young(er) and constantly having that nagging feeling that time passes so slowly. You wait forever for everything, it seemed. I waited for fall weather, I waited for the holidays, I waited for snow, I waited to be old enough to stay up late...you get the idea. I remember every adult around me telling me how "time flies by so fast." I kept wondering when this would actually happen, this alleged "time flying." I'll tell you when it did..at precisely the moment I wished for time to stand still. When we had our first baby. I look now at that 13 year old "baby" and remember vividly bringing her home from the hospital. Fully armed with some baby blues, I cried in bed one night telling Shane "in five years she'll start kindergarten!!!" and he chuckled that soft chuckle, held me close and told me that was far away and not to worry. She will be starting 8th grade on July 24th.

I look at all 4 of them and I can't believe how far they've come, so quickly. Savannah is almost 12, so witty, so bold and so "out there" at times. I look at her and remember the 6 month old baby, one ear infection after another...sleeping in the family room with me because those nights were rough nights. We'd hold hands so that when she woke, I'd wake up too. I'd wake up to that sheepish smile and those big blue eyes. And now here she is, telling me that Dr. Who (number 10 for those who wonder) is hot.

Griffin will be 10 in September. Double digits. 4th grade. The end of elementary school. I can still see him with his crinkled nose, chucking that sippy cup through the air yelling "I SAID NO WATER IN MY CWANBEWWY JUICE!"  And here he is now, so big and so adorable. Riding a dirt bike, shooting a BB gun, proud of his pocket knife collection. He is young enough to tell me girls are still disgusting. Whew.

Alyssa just turned 6. Six years. 1st grade. All day. I do not know what I will do without her. That is a true statement. For the first time in 13 years I will be alone, without my best friends. I know some parents celebrate that day and that's okay, if that's your thing. It's not mine. I wish they were here, with me. I know it's time to suck it up, get things done while they are gone at school. I will, I will put on my smile and some days it will be fine. A lot of days just will not be until I see their faces in the afternoon.