Because Babies Don't Keep...And Neither do Teenagers

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow,
So quiet down cobwebs,
Dust, go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

~ This little poem is in Timothy's baby book...

I remember reading it, as we rocked and he lay peacefully in my arms more than sixteen years ago. I remember soaking it in, not yet knowing how quickly that sweet time would pass. No one tells you that babies grow up. We mothers know it...no one should need to tell us. But, somehow the intoxicating euphoria of a sweet babe cuddled in our arms keeps us from the inevitable truth.

I've been in a bit of a funk lately (and by lately, I think I mean a couple years!)...trying to find my place as no longer a mother of littles, adjusting to being back to work and another school year, letting go of the old...embracing the new, resisting the memories blowing in with the September winds. I find myself retreating some, circling the wagons, nestling in to soak in this season before it passes like all the others before it.

My littles have grown big. I am not rocking babies anymore. Well, except for my nephew Max. I'll gladly rock him any chance I get. This season of running to and fro, watching my boys play soccer, golf, baseball, or whatever sport is in season...listening to them tell their stories. Enjoying all that goes along with boyworld. It too, will pass. Like babies, pre-teens and teenagers don't keep. How I feel the urgency of soaking in the dwindling time of my eleventh grader's high school years and my fourth grader who is just a hop skip and a jump away from high school himself. It is hard to focus on much else, realizing that soon this season will be over.

I'll admit that while I talk about embracing all the seasons of our lives, my heart is not quite ready to embrace the next one. I am feeling rather sappy as I think of my boy, as I watch him become the young man that he is becoming...one that I admire. One that I'm proud of. One that I love so dearly. When we watched Toy Story 3 this summer, I couldn't keep the tears back, at the thought of Andy going to college to leave his toys behind. I remembered my boy playing with his Woody and Buzz toys. I thought of how he has traded that sweet time, for this one. Life is uncertain, and this world is so big. It's hard not to wonder about all of our choices as parents. It's hard to let go. Sometimes, it's even hard to remember that God is bigger than all the storms that come our way. All of those feelings spilled out in the tears I couldn't hold back as we watched the movie. Timothy shook his head, a little disgusted by my sappiness. (I'm sure he feels that way a lot these days!)

So, if I seem a little preoccupied, a little out of sorts, please be patient with me. I may not be rocking a baby, but I am certainly still trying to soak it all in...to embrace every moment of this season.

Because, children and teenagers just don't keep.