My inspiration for this record of my days:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” -Anna Quindlen

Friday, April 13, 2018

2017




Last week's project was putting highlights from my 2017 photos into an album.  I'm not one to make a super creative book.  If I put pressure on myself to make it fabulous, it would never actually happen... so I kept it really basic.

Today the physical book arrived on my doorstep.

As I took a minute to look it over, I was struck by how many big things have happened in our family this year!

A Jr college graduation. A high school graduation. Broken bones. Births in the extended family. My baby starting kindergarten. Four surgeries.  A wedding, adding a new person to our family!

I guess I have been so caught up in living it, I haven't had much time to contemplate.  But as I see it all compressed into a little book, it feels like stepping back and looking at my life from a distance.

It really does feel like yesterday that I was knee-deep in diapers and carseats and nap times and sippy cups.  Now here I am helping people move and teaching people to drive and planning receptions and going to visit children in their own homes.  It feels surreal.  Not sad, necessarily, but surreal.  I love all the growth and change I see in my children and in myself. I love the things we are learning along the way.  And I especially love each of these people- my people.



The wind is blowing hard today,  and somehow it feels like a metaphor for how fast my life is passing.  Before I know it, my (now) little boys will all be grown up too.  My life will be filled with wonderful new experiences, new people and new joys.  I welcome it all!

But just for a minute, it feels important to acknowledge how fast it is flying by.