Fleeting

Life is such a contradiction right now... wishing to be through the tough parts of sending my number one off to Basic Training... yet CLAWING and SCRATCHING to cling to every last second and breathe in every fragrance of his last moments as a child.

This picture came up in my Facebook memories yesterday...

Time. You are so fleeting... Such a punk.... how you scoot past me before I even realize it. I'm sure that just a SECOND ago we were in our country house.... my four lil munchkins... gathered on this ledge... getting ready to start Kindergarten through middle school. I find myself standing here, blinking away the confusion, slightly startled by the fact that I have a 7th grade girl... WHAT?!?!? Two high schoolers... and a son going into the Army. How. Did. This. HAPPEN?

Cherish every second.  That's the ONLY possible lesson God can be speaking to me now. In a blink, Hannah will be the one leaving her childhood behind for the promises of adulthood. As I sit here wondering where the sippy cups, diapers, and car seats went, I realize that before I know it homeschooling, youth group, and acne will be a replaced too... the challenge my friends is this....

Suck it ALL up. Enjoy every minute of whatever season your in. Marinate in those sticky kisses... Relish those tweenage eye rolls.... Enjoy even those HORRIFIC teen boy smells...

But hold on loosely. I have a friend who's a bit more blunt than I am. Yesterday she said to me, "You did realize they'd eventually grow up, right?" I needed to hear that. I can't cling TOO tightly. I can't wallow too long. I have to let go and let them soar. It's been the end goal all along.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6