This curly haired, brown eyed, Momma’s boy takes his last college final exam today. Saturday he will officially be deemed, “a college grad.” I thought I had another semester of “and our youngest is at Radford.” I am not quite ready for, “and all of our babies are grown and gone.” I still choke up over, “and our baby is getting married in May.”
Mommas with littles. I’ve been there. Two under the age of one. Two in elementary school with a crawler attached to the hip. The days are long and often hard. The nights eternal. But the years…the years are short. Get up thirty minutes before the first tiny feet hit the floor running. Spend some time planning, meditating, journaling, and reading Scripture. Lordy, it is called “quiet time” for a reason! It may be the only bit of quiet you see for the day. Embrace the noise. (Try) to pull into your heart the arguing, the bellows of “MOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!” And when that oldest kiddo of yours opens the door to leave for school each morning and shouts out, “Mom?! I’m leaving! Love you!” Spit the toothpaste into the sink and reply in kind.
Before you know it, you may even think you are longing for it now, your morning cacophony will consist of starving kitty mewls and puppy exuberance that someone is finally awake (at 4:45 am). You will wait for a text, a call, a visit with as much anticipation as you waited for your due date. You won’t sleep until your phone alerts, and you read that one word, “home,” no matter the hour of darkness.
Soon, it will only be just you and the husband of your youth. He in his leather chair with the remote in hand, you on the sofa in “mom’s spot” watching Wheel of Fortune, high-fiving each other when you figure out the answer before the contestants do. (Or so I’ve heard.)
Wrap your arms around these fleeting years. Store the snuggles and smooches, and I love yous in your heart. You will need to pull them out and inhale their memory scent long before you are ready. These truly are the good times; the stuff our lives are made of; the “you’re gonna miss this” moments. And all of the other clichés that ring true in the silence.
So that when it is time to let your babies go…both of you will be ready. And by ready, I mean ready to remind them when they get too big for their college/adult britches that you have pictures of them standing bare-butt next to the tub and you aren’t afraid to use them.
So proud of you, Brett. Now go out, find a decent job with benefits, and marry that girl you deemed, “everything I’ve ever wanted in a wife” one month into your relationship.
Love, The Queen.
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