They keep growing up
I’m doing it again. What’s that? you say. What’s everything? Well, I’m doing everything I did twenty-five years ago that I had done twenty-five years prior to that. For the third time in my lifetime, I’m changing diapers, stuffing my purse with snacks, snapping hundreds of pictures, and saying statements like, “They are growing up too fast!”
Because now I have great-grandchildren.
With social media, we get a front row seat into the lives of other moms and grandmas. Nearly daily someone will post something like, “Enjoying the moments.” or “Don’t take this for granted.” as a caption under a picture of a sweet mom and a child. We all feel it, don’t we? Even as the great-grandma, I’m busy and wish I had more time to hold and cuddle. I feel like the minutes are slipping away.
Recently I ran across an article I had written in 2010. My oldest grandson had just gotten his learner’s permit to drive and his braces off, all-in-one week. I talked about how I couldn’t believe he was growing up so quickly and how hard it was to let him go. He’s twenty-seven now with two children. Wow! That did go by fast! His three-year-old son is so much like him. He’s a bundle of energy with curly hair and dimples. More times than not, I call him by his dad’s name, John Luke, instead of his name, John Shepherd. The time has passed so quickly that my brain has trouble catching up with the names! (I do partially blame the parents for putting another “John something” name out there.)
The only difference between me, today, and me, as a new mom or a young grandma, fretting over my children and grandchildren growing up so fast is I have lived through a whole generation “growing up” twice now. Does that make sense? In other words, I’m old and have seen a lot. I know the joys that come from each stage of life. When mine were little, I couldn’t imagine loving anyone as much as I did my own children, but God has that all figured out and He puts just the right amount of love in your heart to divide it evenly among everyone, even if it spans five generations. It is the same with time, God figures it all out. It goes by too fast, but we’re given just what we need to accomplish what we’re called to do.
While it’s impossible to be everywhere and not feel like you’re missing out on something when attending something else, that is life in the fast lane, as my family says. We must take that feeling of “not enough” and throw it away and replace it with feelings of “what I can do is enough” and know your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren will adore you no matter what you do.
Whatever stage you’re in right now, relax and enjoy it. I have discovered that the same amount of time passes whether I’m enjoying or complaining about it, so I would rather enjoy it.
Hugs, Chrys
