Time

I'm running out of time. Not to say that I'm dying anytime soon (hopefully). It's just that I feel like time is slipping so quickly out of my fingers. And as a control-freak, I really don't like that.

I remember when Ann Catherine was a baby, I was sitting out somewhere in public holding my sweet little girl. And I remember a lady watching us for a little while and eventually striking up a conversation about babies. But as time went on, she looked a little sad and told me to enjoy these years because they slip away so quickly. It wasn't the first time I'd heard that. Enjoy this time, babies grow so quickly. Before you know it, they'll be grown and have babies of their own. As a very tired, sleep-deprived mom, I remember thinking that I honestly couldn't WAIT for her to grow up. I needed sleep!! I needed rest!! Time couldn't pass quickly enough!

Eight years later, I'm suddenly a little sad. You see, I think time finally started speeding up. And now it's become a speeding bullet train. And I think I want off the ride...or at least for it slow down a little bit.

You see, this week, we welcomed a new 3rd grader home from school.

This week, I looked at my calendar and cried a little bit.

This week, I looked at my son and realized that his baby face was disappearing and his new little boy face had suddenly appeared.

This week, I brushed my hair and caught my breath at the streaks of white hair throw it. (Yeah, I'm totally not showing you a picture of that one!)

This week, I realized that life was moving so fast, I couldn't get caught up. My life has become so scheduled that I move non-stop from 5 am - 10 pm and there's no time to stop. No time to breathe. No time to just sit and watch and marvel at my sweet little ones. Our life is full of time-fillers. Work. Girl Scouts. Church. VBS. Meetings with insurance guys. Date night out. Dinner with the girls to say goodbye to one of my favorite bosses. Errands to run. While I enjoy all of these things, I realized that they were stealing what is suddenly becoming most precious to me: TIME. I suddenly understand what that lady was saying. My kids aren't grown adults yet, but I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it'll be time for them to head off into the world with their own lives. So I'm asking Time a favor: Can we please slow down? Can we just make the world turn a little slower? Can the days last a little longer? Because the scary thing is, my schedule is full and my life has become a constant movement from one task to the next. But the fact is that I still don't have enough time. There's still so much to do. My to-do list is longer than the time that I have available. And the fact is that I want to just have a moment to get off the rollercoaster so I can just take time to sit and watch my kids and play with my kids and encourage them to slow down their growing a little. Because I feel like I'm running out of time!