Where does the time go?

Hello to the few of you stragglers that still drop by from time to time. The blogging world seems to have fallen silent lately. Not just in regards to mine, but many of the blogs that I have religiously followed for years as well. I think Facebook and other social networking sites are to blame. I'm just as guilty as the next person, but there's something to be said for the blog and it's intimacy. It doesn't need to try and condense a thought into a single concise line. No, I can blather on all I want in this space.

So what brings me here today? A thought on the passage of time.

Remember when you were growing up and things seemed to take forever.

"Are we there yet?"
You had to wait a whole year for Santa to make his rounds.
The Easter Bunny.
Halloween.
A school year.
That mail-order toy you are dying to get your hands on: Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Really? That's like 2 months!
Anything worth being excited about was pretty much guaranteed to take an eternity to arrive.

So why is it that in adulthood things are so fleeting? The moments you wish to preserve forever seem only like brief snippets. Nothing is static. Maybe it's because we're busier. We're juggling more things on a daily basis than we ever imagined we'd have to. Maybe it's because we know our time is limited. The childhood threads of immortality have begun to unravel. Whatever it is, things seem to press on at a maddening pace. And that, my friends, is why I'm here today. To preserve this moment in time. To attempt to hold onto it for just a few seconds longer.

What's so special?

On this day six years ago an amazing thing happened. Not all of a sudden and poof, like a genie granting a wish, but more like months of agonizing hard work piled on top of a load of chaos-- Hurricane Jonas came crashing into our lives. Yes, my friends. Today my baby is 6 years old.

Blink.

How exactly did that happen? No clue, really. It was one of those fleeing moment things. Seems only weeks ago that he was saying his first words, taking his first steps, walking into his first Pre-K class. Now I wake up in the mornings to a grown boy: Smart, handsome, intelligent, and the most humorously sarcastic little man I've ever met. He's phenomenal in every way. I am so honored to share these fleeting moments with him.

Of course, I realize I'm going to feel this way every year for the rest of my life. There will be Jr. High, High School, Senior prom, driver's licenses, college and a whole slew of personal achievements that will leave me slack-jawed and wondering when my precious tiny baby morphed into this amazing human. And dude, I MADE that. Amazing.

Every parent is proud of their child. I realize I'm not parent of the year, and he's not God's gift to mankind, but still, I think he's pretty damn cool!

Here's a picture from last night- his last night as a 5 year old, and missing his very first tooth. (The one I still vividly remember celebrating the eruption of so very long (and not so very long) ago.