Time Flies

All you parent types who keep telling me, "Oh, enjoy this age - it goes by so fast!"...I think I'm starting to comprehend what you're saying. I didn't understand before because that first year of life (or first 14 months in our case, with our 2 bonus months) was long. Really long. I-wonder-if-this-year-is-ever-going-to-end long. There is no part of me that wants to go back and relive the year. I'm glad I took plenty of pictures to look at later when I get nostalgic.

But now? Time does feel like it's speeding up. (Here I must apologize to DF, as one of his pet peeves is people talking about the various speeds of time passing when it quite obviously always passes at the same rate.) Like, whoa, where did the month of September go? How is it fall break next week already? To me, it seems like the days pass more quickly now. My hypothesis about this phenomenon is because the kids are getting more interesting, so I'm not as bored. In addition, I'm not as sleep deprived. So, we can actually do things and have fun together! In fact just this morning, I led some high chair stretches including excellent upraised arms from my little protégés :)

The other day, I was talking to a woman whose kids are all in their 20s, but the way she was recounting one of her labor stories, you'd think she had just given birth yesterday. It hit me - to her, it probably does feel like just the other day she was holding her babies. Then all of a sudden, poof, they grew up! And before long, that's going to be me! I'll be the mom on Facebook (or whatever social media we're using) in 4 years saying, "Oh my word, how are my babies old enough to be starting KINDERGARTEN!!??"

It's strange to think about it sometimes. Right now, I know a lot about my kids. Not everything, since they can't really talk and tell me what they're thinking. But a fair deal. I know what their different cries/whines/whimpers mean. This too is a bit weird to me, because when they were first born I felt so clueless about them. I didn't really spend much time around babies before I had my own. People told me I'd learn as I went along, and apparently I did. Yay! Such mom skills!

But soon, I'm not going to know everything about them. They'll start talking, but then one day they won't want to talk as much. They'll have private thoughts and feelings that they won't share with me. They might even be able to sneak around and do things that I don't know about! And then one day I'll wake up and my babies will be off at college and I'll be staring out the kitchen window wondering who they are becoming...

(Assuming they go to college. Nothing wrong with vocational school though, boys. The world needs good electricians, too!)

Oh my. Yes. I need to live in the present. I recognize that I can't possibly savor every moment, but I can find some savor-worthy moments each day. And before you know it, today will be yesterday...