Monday, May 12, 2008

Change is a'comin


The end of the school year is approaching fast! We only have seven more school days before summer!


The kids are already bouncing off the walls in sheer anticipation. I am looking forward to releasing some of my responsibilities that will end with the school year. Others, I will greatly miss.


My oldest is going on his first trip away from home without his parents. Sure, he has spent the night with friends. He even went to church camp last summer for a week. But this is a class trip to Georgia. He will be getting on a coach bus with fellow students and parental chaperons and traveling for four days.


I know he can handle it. The question is: can I?


My bff is experiencing the High School graduation of her second son this weekend. Then Monday my youngest graduates from Kindergarten. These two events coinciding have made me realize (again) how quickly time flies.


Every stage of life I've experienced with my children has left me saying, "THIS is my FAVORITE age!" Only to discover that the next age is even better!


I have absolutely LOVED every single minute of being a parent. And even though I am no less of a parent as my children grow up, I become a different kind of parent. I welcome the changes that will allow me to have frank, open discussions with my children. But there will always be a part of me that misses the crayon drawings that say, "I luv yu momi!", and reading the same story before bed over and over and over again, and watching with amazement as they discover some new thing and are awed by it.


I never tire of looking at my children: their hair, the shape of their face, their eye lashes, their freckles, their legs as they grow long, the way their eyes light up when they smile, their laugh. I've spent countless hours trying to memorize them in a particular moment, only to have that moment evolve into another.


I don't mean to seem melancholy at this new stage of life of my children. This time of year just seems to be when events mark the passage into a new time. I rejoice in this time. I look forward to the future. And I treasure all that has been in my heart.

1 comment:

ThePrincessMommy said...

Aww - this is so sweet and you summed up your feelings so expressively. I love the part about trying to memorize the features of the moment only to have it evolve in another - very clever writing! (and so true!)