March 30, 2012

Ramblings of an Aging Dad

My little Carter just turned five.

And so we start another year that will certainly go faster than the last.  It really is something that sucks about being a parent, life really moves too quickly to take it all in. How often have you heard someone say before you know it the kids will be off at college.  It's so true.  

I am enjoying every minute of it, but those minutes are flying by, way too fast.  The kids are getting so big and learning new and amazing things every single day.  You want to take mental notes about it all but there is only so much that your brain can store.  I have about 25,000 pictures that I have taken over the years with the kids in them, but who has time to look at them all?  Every now and then I will go and start to delete some pictures that seem redundant, but I find that I have a hard time doing that even with ones that are completely out of focus.  It's almost as if deleting the photo would delete a memory altogether.

It's really hard sometimes seeing them get so big.  You almost want to stunt their growth and keep them the way that they are.  Why does everything have to get old? It really sucks.

I look at my niece, she just turned 16 years old and she is already starting to prepare for life after her parents house.  She is really in the midst of thinking about college and already knows what she wants to be when she gets older, a doctor of all things.  I don't know what my kids want to be yet, but soon they are going to have to start thinking about that.  They will have to start thinking about what life will hold when they no longer live under my roof.  Their own house?  That's just crazy to even think about.

I honestly don't know how my parents handled it because it's something that I struggle with everyday.  How could they have a 38 year old son?  Where did that time go? Wasn't I just that five year old kid celebrating his birthday?   

I know if I continue to dwell on the future I am going to miss everything in the here and now, but it really is hard to not think about it.  It does go fast, too fast. 

My little guy is five? How? I have no answers. 


John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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15 comments:

  1. My oldest niece is 19, a freshman in college.  I was a senior in college when she was born.  My oldest is now 13.5.  It goes too fast!!

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  2. Dude, I know exactly what you are talking about. I mean, when the kids are growing and we get older and slow down some, the time seems to pass faster and faster.  Cain is 7 today. I can still remember bringing him home. Nuts

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  3. I remember being a kid and summer vacation seemed to last forever... That was two months. Yet five years now goes in the blink of an eye.

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  4. It just goes exponentially faster... Hard to explain.

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  5. I'm officially depressed. 

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  6. Sorry it wasn't my usual Lego movie to get you into the weekend... :)

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  7. I can totally relate.  My coping strategies also include tons of photos.  I also take way too much video and I have a family blog and that other one.  All I'm trying to do is make the most of every moment before they slip away.

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  8. MIne's only six months. He already growing too fast. 

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  9. I have thought the same way at every step along the way

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  10. I have a lot of video and I really need to get it edited down into something watchable

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  11. I'm
    here to win a sexy walnut. I'll be back in a moment to make an
    appropriate comment. Blame solitary mama.






    Andi-Roo
    /// @theworld4realz


    http://www.theworld4realz.com/




    theworldforrealz@gmail.com

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  12. The answer is the beauty of it all and knowing that it will fly by even faster, John!

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  13. I feel your pain, brother! My girls are growing so quickly that 

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  14. It's funny because at every age I thought it was the perfect age to just stop time, but it has only gotten better.

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  15. I have a son named Carter too! He's 9. And, I am over 40 (let's leave it at that). The thought of my sweet, crazy, Lego obsessed, no tooth brushing, still sleeping with a baby blanket, kissy, mess of a son living on his own and one day having his own children blows my mind. Then, I go in the kids bathroom, yet again, and find that it has not been flushed. Yet again. I think about the day I will go to his house, use the toilet and not flush and that makes it a little easier.
    Check out www.domesticsquarepeg.com and our In Defense of Men section where Men call it like they see it ...
    Imperfectly yours,
    DSP Dixie

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