Where Does the Time Go?

In April I'll turn 33 years old. Yes, I know that is not old. Of course it's not... But my heart (and sometimes my body) tell me otherwise. I'm not going through a mid-life crisis; I'm not upset over my age at all. My concern is over the quick passage of time and how I'm spending it.

Life keeps us so busy these days with home-schooling and all of our extracurricular activities, not to mention the day-to-day chores and unexpected tasks that come our way. I keep so busy, I don't always notice how very quickly my children are growing up. My oldest is almost 6 and my youngest, who I feel like should still be crawling around on the floor, is almost 2-1/2. How did it happen? I feel like I missed something. In fact, I am so terrible at journaling that in many ways, I have missed things. None of my children's baby books are filled out very well. Poor Amy - pretty much any milestone recordings I've ever made for her were done in this blog. And I often don't get around to blogging everything. My kids will someday come to me wanting to know details about their childhood, and the only information I'll be able to share will have to come from my memory. That pretty much means they won't be hearing many details!

I've had several reminders of late at how quickly life is passing. My nephew, who I can still remember as a baby and toddler, is now a senior in high school and will be graduating this year. And then this past weekend I went to Austin for a wedding. It was a wedding of a young woman who I babysat for many years. From the time she was about 4 until she was too old to be babysat (and I felt too old to be still babysitting), I was the prime babysitter for her and her little sister. And here I was, at her wedding. And during the reception, they flashed through picture after picture up on a large screen and I saw so many pictures of the little girl I remember from so long ago. And yet, it doesn't seem so long ago. Where did the time go? The picture below is of me with these two beautiful grown up women who are now the same height as me - maybe even taller! And though they remember me and all of the games we used to play together, they are not the same little girls anymore. Where did the time go?

I remember my dad telling me a long time ago when he and I were out on a walk that the older you get, the more quickly time seems to pass you by. At the time, either in high school or a freshman in college, this information didn't seem too important or all that believable for that matter. I was complaining about wanting a stressful week to be over and he was giving me the old "don't wish your life away" speech. But now, here I am, finally seeing what it was he was talking about. It really was a "don't wish your life away" speech, and that advice should be taken seriously. I can remember when the holidays at Christmas seemed to go on and on and on and I just couldn't wait for Christmas day. Now I want Christmas day to take it's time coming, because the holidays seem so short. Summers used to feel like they lasted forever, but now they go by in the blink of an eye. It's becoming difficult to remember what year we're in. I have to think about it every time I write the date. My dad was right. Where does the time go?

There is really not much I can do about the passing of time. I can't stop all of our activities so I can keep things a little slower... a little duller. I can't stop my children from growing up. But I do plan to take in every moment and try to enjoy this time that God has given me here with my loved ones. It is often so easy to wallow in self-pity when the days get difficult or I feel too overwhelmed by life's challenges. But why waste those precious moments in feelings of sadness or depression? No one knows how much time we have here on this Earth, and what time we do have goes so fast. Every minute we have should be treasured and used wisely.

So on that note, I think I have spent enough time sitting in here at my computer. Now it's time to spend memorable moments with my children!