All of a sudden
A couple of years ago, I had one of my aunts say to me “Enjoy every minute, they’ll be gone before you know it and then you’ll be having grandbabies”. Well, I hope the grandbabies are many years off (especially now with critter coming), but I recently have been hit with the “oh crap, it’s here” stage. Oldest son is now living at his dad’s. Older daughter is practicing driving and has had a first job. Oldest son will be a senior this year. All of a sudden, I’m at that stage where they have one foot (or in Luke’s case both feet) out the door. And they don’t come back to see you when you want them to, they come back when they want to.
Sometimes it’s hard to navigate these last years, same as the earlier years. When they are little it’s questions like how do I get them to stay in bed or eat their vegetables? When they’re older, it’s things like do I make them pay for that themselves or is it a good idea to let them borrow the car for this? Some things I have learned to not worry about anymore. (See my article that was published in KC Parent magazine).
The main thing that has helped me through these latter years has been my faith and the support of friends and family. I pray for my kids daily, and have worked on having to trust God to be there and be active in their lives when I can’t be. Only time will tell how this plays out.
This song has been a source of comfort to me, in fact, right now I can’t listen to it without crying. I wonder if God is saying these same words to my kids when He thinks about them.
