~~ "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."~~
Like a merry-go-round on maximum spin, the childhood years make us dizzy and leave us wondering how it all happens so quickly.
The second set of report cards came home yesterday. The school year is in full swing with homework and tests and talk of scheduling next year's classes. It kills me to know that in the blink of an eye the twins will be off to college because they are halfway through their freshmen year. How did they ever get old enough to be called freshmen?? Before we have time to prepare, Haybug will be dating some boy that no matter how good he might be, he'll never be worthy of her in our eyes. And as much as I fuss about it now, before I am ready I will no longer find rocks and pebbles stashed in pockets or even my purse by Jacks (who at the moment deems them as precious as gold).
Everyday life gets in the way of preserving the valuable moments. A fact all too real as I noticed today that there are quite a few drafts of posts meant to have frozen a moment in time...started, but never completed, for the blog last year. There they sit in the archive, moments buried but not quite lost; like a prized toy that is flung from the merry-go-round as it's owner hangs on tight ...all while they are laughing maniacally with delight from the ride. Reading the drafts I realize that those moments are waiting to be picked up, brushed off and cherished....just as a lovey waits patiently in a patch of grass or a bush as the child plays.
While the words of the moments have been forgotten and those drafts will never be completed, I do remember exactly which pictures would have been included with the final posts. As I spent a rare, quiet Friday morning catching up the blog, I decided to post some of the pictures intended to mark time in 2012. This is my way to dust off every moment, every memory, and hold it close.
Easter of 2012
And around that time was AleCam's Spring Supper Concert for band. They were so thrilled that the Grandparents from South Alabama were able to come for the event...
As the days got longer with Summer approaching, Jacks was spending more and more time out in the creek that runs through our backyard....
Little boys and nature...could there be a better match?
Jacks...always focused on the creek, never on himself. I wonder if he will be a great naturalist one day...
Because Jacks loves being in the creek so much, we signed him up for an ecology camp during the summer. Not only did he get to play with bugs, make fossils, and watch birds of prey, he got to hold snakes! Pure Heaven!
The last day of school is always bittersweet. While I am thrilled with the arrival of lazy summer days, the last day of classes always reminds me that we are one step closer to the end of childhood......
Before you know it, Summer is over and the First day of school has arrived......
The year always brings adventures and experiences mixed with traditions as old as the South. Band trips, summer vacation, a wedding, football season, Halloween, the Holiday Season.... As the saying goes "the days are long but the years are short."
Hold tight as you spin on the merry-go-round. Revel in the squeals of delight and the laughter, because as we are all painfully aware all to soon, the ride is over.
