Where Does the Time Go?

My daughter will be 11 next month, so I know how you feel.  Where did the time go?  It is going by so quickly.    I know I will cry the day she turns 18.  (Heck, I cried when she started and finished Kindergarten)  Since she is my only child, I predict it will be hard for me to cut those apron strings and I will cry for all her milestones!    Happy Birthday to your son.

18 eh? You really were ten:-) When boy wonder 15, my eldest was born I came home 24 hours later and had a wonderful week at home with him and my husband. On day 7 DH walked in to find me sobbing. 'What's wrong?" Sob, "he's grown!!!!!!" sob sob. He is already different. And from that moment I knew he was just going to grow and change and grow up and NOTHING was going to stop it. I haven't cried about him growing up since. (I've cried over other stuff...)  This year he is living away from home as his Year 9 school campus is in the high country. We get to see him in the holidays and boy has he grown up. He's had all sorts of experiences that I hope will carry him through senior school and ino 18 when I really release him into the world.

And you thought his first day of kindergarden was rough--- my older daughter cried when I left her, my younger daughter jumped out of the car and waved good-bye.  It does keep getting more difficult.  Wait until David walks Abby down the aisle.  I want to be there to hand you the tissue. 

Sorry, you were asking for solace weren't you?!  Just enjoy each day you have with your children.  They will be the memories to get you through the quiet years when your house is empty...unless, of course, you have a pesky guest who continually arrives with a towel, bottle of bubblebath and beats you to the bathtub with feet.   Hmmmm a nice photo of The Scot taped to the ceiling over the tub would be nice. 

Eldest son is 9, youngest is 5.  My eldest got his first spot last week and I was horrified.  Then he told when he gets married and has children he's just going to keep staying with me.  My 5 year old agreed and within a few minutes they'd picked the names of their children - I think my house is going to be busy!

And a big hug to you, to, Janice.

Mine are a little younger but I know what you mean about growing. Littlest was 9 last weekend; eldest will be - OMG, he'll be a teenager in May! On my birthday in Feb, I had to admit he was the same height as me. Now he's quite a bit taller. Doesn't seem like yesterday it was his first day at school. (I do remember he was the first of our toddler group to walk - and at 18 months he toddled over to some teenage girls in the park and gave them his suncream. (Toddled is probably the wrong word. He was more like Meep Meep the Roadrunner!))

My take? Just enjoy every moment and store up the lovely memories - and you can look forward to the joy of sharing them with your kids when they have their own children.

My kids are 22 and 24 now.  I cried when coming out the school doors on my youngest's first day of school.  I "whee hawed" when I got inside my own house two minutes later.  Life is full of mixed emotions.  The trick is to find the glass half full as often as possible.

I try to keep the big picture in mind.  Yes, some day I will probably be a grandmother; I can wait.  It's nice to have this time to work on "me" for a change.  I've spent all my wedded years putting someone else's needs first and now it's time for MY needs.  I hope I get my act together before I lose this freedom....  (I'm down 15 pounds in 2.5 months; tons more to go.)

The days DO go by quickly, no matter what stage of life you're in.  I am enjoying both my kids working full-time where they like their jobs.  They still live at home (paying R&B), and some friends poo-poo this, claiming they aren't learning responsibility.  I beg to differ.  They both own their (2004 and 2005) cars outright and have no debts.  They help around here whenever needed without being asked (except their rooms!).  They enjoy family get-togethers and often initiate fun things to do during these times.  They like spending time with us, and we like spending time with them.  The bottom line is that they can't afford to move out yet, but they are saving towards that day.  I think I will enjoy having the house "back" once this happens, but I'm enjoying them being here in the meantime.

I can totally relate to your DS being taller now; I'm 5'10" and my DS is 6'4".  And to think I was worried when he was born about his height, as I'd heard that heights skip generations, and DH's dad was 5'3" BEFORE he shrunk!  I SOOOO didn't want to tower over DS at his wedding!  Whew!  My DD hates being so "short" at 5'8.5".  Can you imagine?  I think that's most women's dream height (tall, but not too tall)!

As for advice:

Worrying is like a rocking chair:  it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.  ~Glenn Turner

If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.  ~Calvin Coolidge

Every evening I turn my worries over to God.  He's going to be up all night anyway.  ~Mary C. Crowley

Is that a picture of your son? He's gorgeous.

I've always had a problem with time.  It cares nothing for me, just goes merrily on its way.  How rude is that???  From the time I was in my teens I knew that I never would have enough time to do all of the things I wanted to do in the world.  There were/are sooooooo many things to do, how can you find the time to do all of them?  Of course, we can't, we just have to pick some of the really important things.

Kids are one of those things.  Husbands are pretty good too.  But when you entwine your life with others, time seems to dissapear exponentially.  I don't know why that is.  I think we're so busy trying to keep up with all of the things we have to do just to get through a day that when we look up, years have gone by.  And I think that we need more than one life just to get through all of the fun stuff.

Congratulations on being in the moment with your family. 

Geez, just reading this had me getting choked up.  I know how you feel about watching them grow up.  Time goes by so quickly.  My baby is a junior this year.  I hate the thought of her going away to college, too.  :(

Lindsey

www.lindseybrookes.com

why is it some of the most precious memories we never had a camera to hand? I don't remember how old my son was, except that he was walking but not talking.  We came in from grocery shopping, and I set him down and was going back and forth as fast as I could with the groceries.  Only to come into the kitchen to find that he had found the cat food container, which had a very large screw top lid, opened it, and dumped it in a HUGE pile on the floor.  He was being circled by our cats, purring as loud as they could, and looking very pleased with himself - in hindsight, I so wish I had my camera handy!     When I finally got a chance to start cleaning up the mess, I found a cat food plate underneath all the pile of kibble.

So Alex was probably feeling very proud of himself for feeding his pet (my oldest cat and my son had an amazing bond) -  and I really don't think my reaction was all that encouraging!  Maybe its why he's still less helpful than his younger brother.  Did I scar him for life by not thanking him for feeding his friend?  (And HOW did he get that container open?!)

I'm trying to scrap book  all the photos I've taken over the years.  I made a big dent, then got sidetracked.  One of these days I'll get back into it!

Ooh, meant to say I have that exact pic of Matthew in my collection - occasionally its even my screen saver

Amy

FF--that would be a picture of Matthew McConaughey--Janice has a 'thing' for him. 

Oops!

It was your lucky day.  You won 2 books yesterday.  I am so happy for you!!!

Thanks for the congrats Tammy!

Thanks again for the book Janice!  Won two books yesterday - the one from you and one from Molly O'Keefe.  It makes my day to win anything, but books are extra special !