The Speed of Life

Friday night, after a fun-filled evening of popcorn, 3-D glasses, and Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel (the concert/movie that we saw a few months back was televised…), I put my oldest girlie to bed only to have her pop up four different times with four different excuses… One of them actually did strike a cord with me (not enough to let her stay up!) and that was, “(Sob) Mommy, I don’t want to be 20 and move out of the house! (sob)” This was a slight twist on when she periodically tells me that she doesn’t want to grow up and always wants to be my little girl – but I don’t recall my husband or I ever indicating that 20 was the cut-off age for living in the house! To get her to go to sleep, we had a (SHORT) talk about how we don’t need to worry about something that is so far away. I told her that she’s not even 8 yet, and that before she’s 20 it will be another whole 8 years (her entire life so far) plus another 4 years (half of her life so far), so this is not something that needed to keep us up that night! I also told her that while she loves being a little girl now, I am sure that she will love being an adult. I said that I have a wonderful husband and two precious daughters that I love, and that now as an adult I get to make my own decisions. If I don’t want to clean my room, no one is there to tell me that I have to. If I see something at the store that I want to buy, I have a job and I can buy it! See, there are some benefits to growing up! ;)

Anyway, I wanted to get her to go to sleep so we wrapped that up pretty quickly, and I certainly would not want to add to her anxiety level, but as much as I think she was saying that as a stall tactic – it definitely hit home with me. Time seems to be racing by faster than I care for it to move. (Now is when you should click on My Playlist to play “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney!) I cannot believe that my “baby” is already 2 years old and that my "little girl" is going to be 8! AND in the second grade in a month! And I’m going to be 37 next week – when did THAT happen? This summer is flying by so quickly, but life also seems to be moving at a quicker than normal pace. I’m sure it’s impossible to slow it down, but I’d like to try and relish the good stuff more often – and let go of the things that seem to try my patience. Something I’m always striving for – someday I’ll master that!!