A Glimpse of Time

I was a very young girl, big eyes and big bows.  Giddy and free I rode my horse for hours on end.  There was no place we did not explore, no fence we did not jump.  Then his springs slowly lost their bounce, his batteries were replaced no more and I grew up a just a little bit.

I was a school aged girl, loose toothed and untied shoes.  I rode my bike for miles on end.   The wind whipped through my hair as I explored the twist and turns of our mountain roads.  Slowly my bike lost its shine, its tires lost their air and I grew up just a little bit more.

I was a teenaged girl, all pouty lips and heartfelt sighs.  I could drive my shiny car anywhere I chose.  I drove to work so I could pay for the car, and the insurance and the gas.  Slowly I learned that true freedom always has a cost and I grew up quite a bit more.

I was a young married woman, rounded belly and glowing eyes.   I traded in my shiny car for a practical minivan.  I learned that parking close to the cart return is more important that parking close to the door, that infant baby carriers get really heavy after about three months and that someone else’s safety was way more important than my freedom and I finally grew up all the way.

The past week I have been thinking quite a bit about the passing of time.  There is something about the way my oldest is beginning to look more like a young teenager than a child that made me sentimental. Time marches quickly on and I am mostly oblivious to it.  I am so wrapped up in my daily life, the important things that I must accomplish that somehow I miss the moments they change from baby to toddler, toddler to child, and now child to adolescent.    I just look up one minute and they have changed.  I want to put this time in a bottle and put it on a high shelf so that years from now I can look at it and smile.  I love where we are in life right now.  I love watching the boys learn and explore life around them.  I love having friends that can share the smiles and tears of the everyday, normal things.    I want to hold tight to all these moments because time is still marching forward.    Pretty soon all my boys are going to be men.  I know that time will be precious also as I watch them venture out into the world and have careers and families of their own.  But for today I want to slow it all down just a bit and draw everything I can out of the little, every day moments.   So I am signing off today with a challenge to live life fully in the moment.-Kristine