Well, this happened recently!
When I asked Son #4 where he wanted to take a graduation picture on campus he picked the “Big A” on the football field. While we were taking pictures, a young couple came onto the field with a toddler in a stroller. The dad took the little boy out of the stroller as he clutched a small ball, then proceeded to throw and chase the ball on unsteady but determined little legs. All I could think about was the fact that Son #4 was that exact size yesterday!! And then we blinked and he’s now a college graduate with two majors…Economics and Finance & Banking.
What happened with the twenty one years I knew we had to get him ready for the big bad world?? Did we teach him everything we were supposed to? Did we tell him how much God loves him? How much we love him? It seems like yesterday that I wrote this post about him graduating high school.
His future plans all during his college years was to get a job on the west coast far, far away from home. Now that he’s graduated, his plans have changed a little bit. Maybe it had something to do with his mom praying that he would stay closer to us!! Yes, I’m THAT parent! Anyways, he’s staying near us and living with a friend from college. It may not last long but I’m going to eat up every minute we have with him!!
I can’t help but reminisce about the good old days when we had four boys under the age of ten. We thought our lives were so hard running them all different directions to soccer, piano, birthday parties, band practice, football practice. We couldn’t wait for them to become more independent and self-sufficient. Now we’re here and we want to go back to when they were little and dependent!! Parenting sure is a double-edged sword!
Because of Covid, only two people could attend the graduation so Mom and Dad were the lucky ones. When he walked across the stage to get his diploma, I was so proud of all the hard work he put into his college education. He worked hard, made great friends, had fun, dealt with heart break (first girlfriend), did his own laundry, learned time management, worked on leadership skills, and I think experienced a little home sickness (I hope!).
We’re loving watching him as he interviews for jobs and packs up his belongings to move in to his own apartment. He’s so grown up and responsible. But we also still enjoy when he sits down on the couch next to us and talks a mile a minute about his life.
Enjoy every minute of every stage of your child’s life. The tough and the sweet. The sleepless and the exciting. It will gone before you know it.
Thanks for coming by, now go play with your kids/grandkids!
Love y’all,
Linda
