Time Marches On

How did it get to be the first of October already? For that matter, how did it get to be the last quarter of 2012?

Jr. Comets cheer leading/football season is almost over. Only two more practices and one more game with my girls.

I am wearing a sweater today as the high temp is 66. What a difference from a month ago when we were still in the 90’s.

I watched my Jr. High daughter march in her first parade a week ago, and play with the GHS band at the football game Friday night.

Every day for the last (6 months?) week, my son has reminded me that he turns nine this Thursday and has his first sleepover birthday party on Friday.

Most of the time, life is so busy there is no time to notice how fast the time is going. But sometimes, it just hits me that in spite of (because of?) the busyness of life, time keeps moving. Faster and faster.

Never is this more evident than as our children’s birthdays approach. Wasn’t it just last month that I was caring for this 10 pound 1 ounce, 23 1/2 inch long baby (or toddler as my husband said I gave birth to)? Wasn’t it just last week that this rough-and-tumble toddler got stitches in his eyelid, bit through his tongue and got stitches in the top of his head in a three-month period of time? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we gave up teaching him how to ride a bike and he decided to get on it and ride away? When did his legs get so long that they hang off my lap? When did he get so strong?

I am blessed beyond words to be the mother of this little boy. I have learned much, including how to be more off-the-cuff and spur-of-the-moment, how to parent a less-compliant child whose heart is harder to pierce during times of discipline, how to look the other way when the daredevil in him kicks in, how to play light sabres, football and baseball, and more about Star Wars than I ever deemed possible.

So, as we approach 9 years with this not-so-little boy, I continue to look for those pockets of time to enjoy him now, like this morning as I woke him up for school singing to him, and the nights that he tucks me in and I get good snuggles, and the times he and I get an evening to ourselves, because time keeps moving and he keeps growing and it won’t be long and he will be moving on to start a life of his own. And I want to make sure that both he and I have great memories to look back on and a great relationship to build on in the years to come.

Happy Birthday, Ty! You are definitely my favorite little boy, ever!