Have you ever had that tight feeling in your chest? You know the one where it feels like you’re going to burst right out of your own body. It hurts and flutters but for all the right reasons.
I get that feeling often when I catch a glimpse of our boys at their best or sometimes with them for no reason at all. Tonight I got that feeling as I snuggled with our oldest guy. Today he turned 10. Ten years. One decade down. Double digits. How did we get here so soon?
It sounds like such a cliché to say that time has flown by, but it really and truly has. It’s nights like this when you want to press pause on the craziness of life and drink in the millions of moments that have strung together a decade of motherhood.
Where to begin? Perhaps with those first crystal clear exhausting moments of finding out that I was Mom to a healthy baby…boy! Flash forward to when he started to scooch around, his toothy grins, dancing in the middle of wedding circles, meeting his baby brother, teaching me how to properly pronounce the difficult names of dinosaurs, starting school, seeing him perform and shine on stage in front of hundreds of people, having Daddy as a teacher, finding his artistic talents in sketching and writing, and recently hearing about his first crush. Add in an endless number of snuggles, chats, laughs, squabbles, ear infections, road trips, beaches, flights, adventures, books, traditions, Family Fun Nights, campfires, and lessons and it’s no wonder that in a flash we’re here.
After 10 years I think we’re off to a good start and I’ve learned to embrace the changes and stages that are inevitable with them growing up. I remember my first postpartum panic when I felt like time was flashing by so fast and that he was growing up way too fast. He was nine days old. That’s when my loving husband politely suggested it might be time to go for a short walk. Wow, little did I know what fun was lying ahead for us.
I’ve enjoyed the evolution of our relationship from baby and Mom, through the toddler years, early school-aged and now sitting here at the start of our second decade together. He now sits up front with us in the vehicle and it’s still a novelty to play the role of DJ and adjust his own heat. I love that we can now have some pretty cool conversations together and that he can teach me as much about British and Egyptian history as I have ever taught him about letters and numbers.
That’s not to say that every once in awhile, on nights like tonight, that it doesn’t catch up to me and make me think that if the first 10 years have gone by this fast imagine the next 10 and the 10 after that…
When my thoughts drift there it helps to reflect on what that time has granted me. In this case, we’ve spent the last 10 years helping to build amazing memories and mold that small baby boy into the wonderful young man he is today. And that’s not something to cry about. That’s a reason to smile and celebrate.
Tracy is a self-employed Mom of two boys, trying to get it right the first time. By day, helping companies tell their stories through words, media and events. By night, navigating the world of Lego, Minecraft and Harry Potter.
