I learned Sunday that Brittany and I have the same birthday (40 years apart), and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. That afternoon I asked my husband, “Where have those years gone? How did they pass so quickly?” Very practical and no-nonsense, he replied that I’d been getting an education, raising children, and working. “That’s not what I mean,” I lamented. Where have the Friday nights gone? The weeks preparing for Christmas? The summers on the beach? The years of chauffeuring children hither, thither, and yon? In other words, have I been sleepwalking? How has my life gone by so quickly? Yesterday I was outside with my siblings trying to catch fireflies, and today I’m reading books to my grandchildren.
I’ll do some more pondering on this topic, but today I’m going to look at manageable segments, like ten years. When I reflect on the past ten years, I see that there have been changes, transitions, gains, losses, milestones, disappointment, accomplishment, sadness, heartache, and well, pretty much the same things that happen to everyone.
Let’s take a stroll down Memory Lane. Since August of 1997, I’ve lost both parents, gone through a divorce, earned another degree, remarried, left a job and area that I LOVED, relocated to the midlands of SC, secured a teaching position at another community college, saw both daughters receive their teaching degrees, saw one of my daughters marry the love of her life for time and eternity, experienced the thrill of holding four grandchildren and four step-grands, survived the two years while my son was serving on a two-year mission in Mexico, published another book, sold a house and bought another, left old friends but have met scores of new ones, and participated in ten marathons and/or half-marathons. It makes me pause and wonder what’s next.
Happy Birthday to Brittany and Jayne. Let’s vow to savor every minute of our short, precious lives. Let’s also consider these immortal words from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t’ stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.”
mom's musings 