Sunday, September 9, 2007

Don't Wish It Away...

Because of RxMan's birthday earlier this week, I have been reflecting on the quickness with which time passes by. Ever since I had Her Highness, it seems like the days and then weeks and months just skate by. My neighbor and I lamented quite frequently through the month of August "where did the summer go?" And, it is true, where did it go?

It is so hard to believe that HH has been back in school for three weeks (even though she missed all but one day last week sick with what turned out to be strep throat)! Or that The Conqueror is over eight months and crawling! OMG!

I remember being a kid and thinking I would never be in high school. At HH's age, being sixteen seemed like a lifetime away and the years between seven and sixteen were doubled at least. Now, sixteen seems a lifetime away again but not necessarily in a good way. I am sixteen years past that magical year of driving and the freedom associated with it. Not that I would want to return to those days. I wouldn't.

They were good days. I enjoyed high school. I had lots of friends and got to do pretty much whatever I wanted. School was easy for me. I wasn't an outcast. I think I was kinda cool in a nerdy sort of way. Maybe not, though. I felt cool, so that made those four years of high school seem okay, y'know?

But, seriously, what happened to the late '90s and early '00s? It seems like one day I graduated from high school, went on a little trip with a couple of friends and then, poof!, I'm thirty-two with a husband, seven year old and a baby. Of course, lots happened in those intervening fourteen years. I went to college, transferred, transferred, transferred, dropped out, went to work, met RxMan, engaged, married, moved seven times, worked, pregnant, baby, etc. Obviously, I didn't blink and end up here but ever since I became a true adult, I cannot hold onto time.

This week, for instance. RxMan was on vacation from work. We were going to accomplish at least 50 things. Guess what we got done? Maybe 3. Maybe. Now he goes back to work in two days and I am going to be forced to focus wholly on my coursework. Ugh.

My friend Steph always says, "Don't wish it away" when it comes to things TC can/can't do. Her philosophy is they are only young once and focusing on when they will walk or talk or do stuff they can't do is bad because the things they can do last such a short time before they move onto more complicated, complex things. She's right. So, I am trying not to do that.

In fact, I dread the passage of time for my children. In a few short years, HH will be in puberty and all that stuff that makes a mother shudder. And, TC is probably my last child so I am trying to focus on enjoying him in ways I didn't HH. So, no, I am not wishing this time away. Not at all....

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