Growing Pains

As anyone who has children knows, it goes too fast. So fast, speed of light fast, just the blink of an eye fast. Certain events trigger this reality to mothers, birthdays, big milestones, and the one that brings it rushing back to me: going through old clothes and toys.


Going through the boys' former belongings is the one that is hardest for me, as I hold their little clothes in my hands I can imagine the baby that once wore them and I can't believe that part of our lives is gone. As with anything else in life it feels like both a lifetime ago and yesterday, funny how time can do that. Twice a year I put myself through this for a kids sale that I take part in and it never gets easier and I guess it never will.


I guess this is such a strange phenomenon for me because I have always lived my life looking toward the future, often with impatience. I am a person who has always been in a hurry to get to the next stage in my life, be it out of high school, out on my own, married, or a parent, always in a hurry, always looking forward...and now I find myself looking back and that is so new to me. Maybe this stage in my life is always where I wanted to be, I find it so amazing to look at my life now and realize that these are the best years. I am aware that every person is different and others have different favorite parts of their lives but I know without a doubt that these are the best years of mine. So I try to cherish every moment and event, I try to burn them all into my memory so that I always have them with me. There are days that I look up at the boys and see them playing together and I consciously stop and try to record the moment in my memory because I know that these moments will be gone faster than I would like to admit.

Wow, how sappy! But all true, amazing what a couple clothes baskets of memories can do to your emotional state.