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Ostriches Look Funny got me pondering this morning.
Question: Do the child rearing years really fly by? Are they truly, "all grown up before you know it"?
Answer: How much time feels like a long time?
My oldest son is somewhere in Haiti building houses. He'll spend his 19th birthday there, it'll be months before we see him. I ran across a photograph of him yesterday. So handsome and kind, sniff, sniff. I miss him, even as I enjoy my reduced grocery bill, I miss him. This nostalgic missing- it makes me regret having him put away all those Legos by himself when he was 4 and he thought I was being mean. Almost.
Meanwhile,
I'm suffering from mild sleep-deprivation and my youngest son is in time out in the living room. When will he ever learn? My 9 year old needs me to go over his times tables, again. Wet bed linens waiting to be washed, and who got the bathroom floor all wet... please, please let that be just water that splashed out of the shower!!!
Today, time is not flying by.
So, even though I know first hand how fast they grow up, I also know how fast they don't- not while you are in the thick of the work of helping them grow. Especially when you are in the thick of helping them grow when they would prefer not too.
This leads me to conclude that time does not fly, rather it ebbs and flows like a river, a river preferably constituted of strong and aromatic Antiguan coffee.
Ostriches Look Funny got me pondering this morning.
Question: Do the child rearing years really fly by? Are they truly, "all grown up before you know it"?
Answer: How much time feels like a long time?
My oldest son is somewhere in Haiti building houses. He'll spend his 19th birthday there, it'll be months before we see him. I ran across a photograph of him yesterday. So handsome and kind, sniff, sniff. I miss him, even as I enjoy my reduced grocery bill, I miss him. This nostalgic missing- it makes me regret having him put away all those Legos by himself when he was 4 and he thought I was being mean. Almost.
Meanwhile,
I'm suffering from mild sleep-deprivation and my youngest son is in time out in the living room. When will he ever learn? My 9 year old needs me to go over his times tables, again. Wet bed linens waiting to be washed, and who got the bathroom floor all wet... please, please let that be just water that splashed out of the shower!!!
Today, time is not flying by.
So, even though I know first hand how fast they grow up, I also know how fast they don't- not while you are in the thick of the work of helping them grow. Especially when you are in the thick of helping them grow when they would prefer not too.
This leads me to conclude that time does not fly, rather it ebbs and flows like a river, a river preferably constituted of strong and aromatic Antiguan coffee.
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7 comments:
are you arguing with me on the internet? HA!
That's why I said I'm "Quickly AND slowly learning"...because really what the heck am I talking about? Thank goodness you have coffee. Seriously. What. Would. We. DO?!?!
I'm thinking that I freak out about it more than you because I have less children, only two..and a half. Is it bad that I called my unborn child a half? But seriously, if you compare the amount of time YOU have spent raising children with the time I have, there's a point to this....and it's, YOU need a river of coffee while I need a stream.
can you tell I haven't had much sleep lately? I forgot what I was talking about mid comment.
Oh gosh no, I'm not arguing with you. Eeek. I think you nailed it beautifully.
I was at the same time exploring the thoughts that sometimes I feel guilty that I spend so much energy wishing my children older and past certain stages. Bedwetting being one of said stages.
I was just thinking five minutes ago that I can't wait for Q to be able to wipe his own bottom.
And today I would be thrilled for Sam do be done with high school even though I know somewhere down the road I'll regret having typed those words.
I'm soooo over diaperrrrs...
An older woman once told me, "The days drag, but the years fly." So true, so true. Thanks for this post!
Grace,
Mae
Thanks again for the great writing. I've been catching up (again), and when my husband heard some of my slightly stifled laughter, I enjoyed reading aloud to him some of your daily adventures. (I'm so relieve that there were no naked old women in the locker room, by the way.)
Glad your 3 yo is feeling better; proud of your 19 yo working in Haiti; sure that the rest of your kids are loving you!
Have a great weekend.
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