Time flies. When our kids were little, folks always told us to treasure the moments. They'd say time with little ones goes by so quickly. Random grandmothers would remind us that time with our babies would be the most precious time of our lives. It goes too quickly, they'd say wistfully. We heard the message. We have treasured the moments and we are still treasuring them...even the moments are fleeting.
Oh how true... our children teach us just how fleeting time is. As they grow up, we grow right along with them. This parenting job is all about change. Who knew? Just when we think we have it figured out, the job description changes. We have to change too.
Before the baby arrives, we make decisions on the best doctor, the right crib, stroller and carseat. If we have the right stuff, everything will perfect, we'll get it right. We'll be the best parents. We'll do it right.
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No one told us that those were the easy decisions or that we'd have to learn something new every step of the way. If we believe nursing is the way to go...that's the best...until our baby bites us! Then we adapt to formula...the right formula...the baby grows to accept the formula.....guess what? It's time for food.
We'd have to find the best pre-school for our kids and the choices were endless....as a more experienced mom told me, "Just pick where you like, they all have to learn their ABC's again in kindergarten anyway!" Change. We never knew. "The only thing constant in life is change." a French author once said. He must have been a parent.
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The phone rang today. It was one of our great neighbors. He the same birthday as one of our kids. We talked about the kids. He was blown away by their ages.
Today while out and about with the dogs, I saw one of our old friends from Madison Beach and Recreation's sailing program. We've known this friend for years....since our kids were little sailors. She had lost track of our kids' ages. She was amazed by the time flying by.
Later, walking in the woods with the dogs, I saw an old friend from Madison who was walking her dogs. This was a friend from our Island Avenue School days. We became friends over the refrigerated yogurt section at Stop & Shop. She gave me lunch suggestions for my new first grader. She had experience. Her kids are just older than ours. I asked how her kids were doing...they're in college now. We talked about colleges. We'll be going down that road soon enough.
A very smart teacher once told me her favorite acronym, "A.Y.T.C."...that acronym has been my motherhood mantra, "Adapt yourself to circumstances." Actually, when it comes to mind, my chant usually has an exclamation point." It seems moments ago that we heard those timely words of wisdom from the people we love and random strangers...
Fleetwood Mac, Landslide "even children get older and I'm getting older too"
