Every so often I have these moments where I feel like I live in two different time periods; the period of a young mother because I have a baby and the time of an older mother because I am a mother to older children. Now granted they are only teens, but compared to an almost one year old, yes, I mother older children.
I’m not sure any of this is making any sense…I know the grace it took to get here and now. I know the grace needed to continue. I am acutely aware at times that in four very short years I may not be waking my oldest from her top bunk. I am painfully aware that in four short years my baby will be 5…my that seems like a life time away.
I have these pangs of “Relish the time now because you could have never imagined your baby being 14″ and the perplexing questions of “Where will Chris and I eat dinner once all the children have moved out? Will we eat at the table where we all cram in now or will we eat at the bar?”
And then I laugh at myself because please God I have at least a good 18 years before that question will have to be answered.
Join us each week as we pause, look back on the week, and relish those moments–Moments of Grace.
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You know, my oldest is only 10 and I feel exactly as you do right now. Sometimes I wished I had realized just how quickly they grow up when my daughter was our first and only child. I’ve learned my lesson (well, I’m learning it) and I try to just enjoy each child exactly at the stage that they’re in. You expressed what I’ve been pondering in my heart beautifully.
Thank you Elizabeth. I don’t know how beautifully it all came out, but glad to know there are more than just me pondering these thoughts.
Jenny recently posted..Moments of Grace
Jenny, wherever you and Chris decide to eat after your nest is empty, mealtimes are going to be very, very quiet. And you won’t like it …. at first anyway. Enjoy those little ones and the older children!
Thank you Rebecca. When I say for the gazillionth time, “Be quiet.” I try to remind myself, sooner, rather than later it will be too quiet.
Jenny recently posted..Moments of Grace
Yes…I know exactly what you mean my friend. Well, I still have a 23 yr old at home and God willing, will enter and finish nursing school in little over a year (and I hope that wedding bells will be ringing soon for him and his gal), my second oldest is away at college but not too far, and my almost 18 yr old is looking at some college courses for the fall or possibly working for a bit til she makes up her mind. I am relishing the years with my 8 yr old knowing very well that in 10 years, she may be off to college herself. *sigh* I can only hope there will be grandchildren at the dining room table at that point.
Yep…enjoy them now.
Theresa recently posted..Inspiration::The Hobbit
Hi Theresa. Yes, you do understand. And with a 14 year span, I will may have granchildren before my children have all moved out.
Jenny recently posted..Moments of Grace
Oh gracious – Exactly! It seems like I simply turned around one day to say something to my daughters and discovered that they were gone from home! I remember The Architect as a toddler with a propensity for donning a superman cape and climbing the bookcases and now he’s taller than I am and drives a car. DirtBike is shifting from boy to man at lightning speed. I’m surprised his bones don’t ache from expanding so quickly. I really did cherish – no, make that savor – my kids’ childhood, and it still went by too quickly.
Having adult kids is pretty interesting, too. Cherry Ames has only one year of nursing school left before she’s completely independent of our support. She and her Prince Charming actually mentioned the word “marriage” in passing conversation last week. (!) I could be a Grandma in another five years!
I also wonder where Tony and I will eat dinner once our nest is empty. I think we’ll just shift down to one end of the long table, and I’ll keep a plant or artful collection of pretty things on the other end! I do wonder about the dishes, too. Instead of using dozens of plates and a bazillion cups forks spoons a day, We’ll just be using two at a time. I’ll have to rotate the stacks so the dishes, glasses and flatwear age evenly and stay ‘matched’. hahahaha!!!
Angela Pea recently posted..Minutes – February 4
When the laundry and dishes seem to take over, I remind myself, I will miss this at some time.
Jenny recently posted..Moments of Grace
Kim recently posted..Loving the Little Things
I am also relishing the time and especially with the newborn. Children well spaced ~ what a gift. It really keeps you in the now, since you know what you’re in for to a degree. I’m afraid sometimes that my husband and I will be too old to enjoy our time once it’s ours again. So, this is it and I hope to sit alone with him sometime sooner (LOL maybe within a year or two!). Thanks, Jenny, and yes, I did receive the book. Praise God that you found the time to send it. Have a blessed day. Michelle