<p>My S is back to college, my D is busy with the high school musical rehearsals, and I?m wonder where those past years went. Flipping photo albums pages makes me smile, then tears run down my cheeks and more smiles come drying my face? many good memories, my cherished moments in snap shots, my life. When I closed my eyes, I see my little ones sleeping in the back seat of a rented mini van while driving to our new house in the US while crying because I was already missing the friends and family I left behind down there in South America. I open my eyes and there is the photo album. My D was three years old posing like a model in front of many rockets in White Sands Missile ranger; in another picture was my five years old S grabbing a lizard and showing it to the camera. Another pictures making snow angels, and then another more in Disneyland. More and more pictures during Christmases and Halloweens, vacations and outings. I close my eyes again and I?m hugging two teenagers in my dreams? I can?t believe they already grew up and I?m 42 years old.
I think I?m having the middle age crisis?I need a coffee break with my CC friends.</p>
<p>I know how you feel Cressmom. My youngest went back to school today and I miss him so much already. Ah, to do it all again! The house is so empty and quiet after Christmas break with the kids and their friends here most nights.</p>
<p>Awwwwwwwww, sweetie, {{{{{{MAJOR hugs}}}}}!!!</p>
<p>I know just how you feel…I have had the same thing going on since my oldest son left for college. Sometimes, the memories just overtake me and I miss a turn while I’m driving or have to ask someone to repeat what they’ve said for the third time <em>lol</em>.</p>
<p>Ironically, my kids were just going through some old pictures tonight. How can anything seem like a lifetime ago–and like yesterday–at the same time? 
Four of them (6 and under), clustered in and around a grocery cart in which there was no room left for groceries, my five-year old son feeding his 8-month-old brother, my now college-attending son standing proudly alongside his Kindergarten teacher on the first day of school…</p>
<p>I’m getting hit again this year as my oldest D graduates in a few months. The shape of our family is changing now with each passing year <em>sigh</em>. Pretty soon, my “littles” will be my “bigs” and my “bigs” will be grown and out on their own. The prospect is extremely unsettling , so I will have to console myself with the belief that, as Dorothy claimed, “There’s no place like home.” This will <em>always</em> be their home, and for whatever little time we can claim them each year, we will treasure them and feel whole as a family once again.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>We got a dvd recorder over Christmas and my husband has been recording our old video tapes into dvd’s. Before he does that though, he plays the video’s so we can see how much time they take up on the tape. We have quite a few that have just 30 minutes worth of stuff and then nothing. Anyway we came across two tapes, one the summer of '87 when my oldest daughter was 2 and my oldest son was a baby. The next tape is the following year with my daughter 3 and her brother 1. Watching them I could remember exactly how I felt at that time and their baby and toddler personalities. It does make me tear up thinking of how fast all that time passed. My son had the most mischevious grin for a one year old, and my daughter was such a ham, mugging for the camera whenever she saw it looking at her. Same kids today…</p>
<p>“How can anything seem like a lifetime ago–and like yesterday–at the same time?”</p>
<p>Exactly, berurah! My husband and I have been tackling the job of organizing all of our pictures (I stopped sometime in the late 80s - yikes). We’ve also been transferring all of VHS home tapes to DVD. He loves it. I do in a way, but with all the changes, two freshman son’s - one college, one highschool - I’ve just gotten too sentimental this year. I fee like Shrek, “I need a hug.” sniff, sniff.</p>
<p>So Cressmom, I’m having the same thoughts as you, I can’t believe they’ve grown up either. I know we’re all excited for our kiddo’s future(s), but just to have a few of those precious moments back would be priceless!</p>
<p>Okay, group hug. :D</p>
<p>
{{{{{{{corona}}}}}}}</p>
<p>I can <em>SO</em> relate to the overly sentimental feelings. I’ve never quite recovered from S going off to college so far way, and now (and about every two years after this <em>lol</em>), I’ll have another h.s. grad flying the nest for college life…</p>
<p>I <em>still</em> can’t pass a train without wanting to stop and name each car or see a model T-Rex and not admire its ferocity. Those were some of S1’s very early passions. Nor can I drive by a street sweeping machine without calling it a “Dusty,” as S2 did after all of the construction videos he watched. <em>lol</em></p>
<p>Perhaps Peter, Paul and Mary said it best:
</p>
<p><em>sniff</em> Pass the Kleenex, will ya?? ;)</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>Your kids were supposed to turn into moody, rude, and self-centered teenagers in order to prepare for them to leave home.</p>
<p>haha edad, we’re bringing up good memories, good memories. Those moody years didn’t exist, at least on this thread. 
Hey, we can dream. </p>
<p>When oldest was around six he was sick and we had to stop and pick up a prescription. I was in line to pay, and he asked for a quarter for the gum/candy machine. I didn’t always give him quarters for those darn machines, but thankfully that day I did. He came back with a grin from ear to ear. He had noticed a machine with rings in it as we walked in the store, and he wanted to get one for me. I’ll always treasure that little ring!!! </p>
<p>okay b, did you say you have a Kleenex. I’m a little drippy over here. That song lyric really captures the essence of little boys (and little girls too, I bet).</p>
<p>hey…edad…c’mere a second…good, o.k., now hold your hands out. Yeah, that’s it! O.K., now…here…Would you please throw away these soggy Kleenexes from corona and me? Thanks! :)</p>
<p>corona~</p>
<p>What a marvelous treasure your special ring must be! How SWEET!!! About a year ago, my youngest son bought me a mood ring for Hanukkah at his school’s Santa’s Secret Shop. He was <em>SO</em> proud of that ring (he was 7 at the time), and it is only one of two pieces of jewelry that I never remove. The other is another ring he bought me this year—gold tone with red and white beads! 
I remove my wedding rings when I wash dishes and such because I don’t want to get them soapy. Last week, when I was in WM, I was asked very delicately by a gal who works there (and who I’ve been friendly with) if there <em>was</em> a husband <em>lolololol</em>. I glanced down, and sure enough, no wedding band but the two rings from my son were right where they always are! :)</p>
<p>Here…have another Kleenex…edad will take care of it when you’re done! ;)</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>When the kids are all here over the holidays, it’s a tradition to bring out the videos of when they were little. They include everything from birthday parties, vacations, school concerts, them putting on ‘shows’ for my H and me, Christmas mornings to graduations, etc. I think what is the most fun for me is to see the looks on the faces of my 4Ds as they watch! Now that my baby is just about finished high school, we are truly close to a milestone in family life. Add to that the fact that my oldest and her boyfriend just bought their first house and I’ve been extremely nostalgic all weekend! </p>
<p>I remember when my girls were really young, my mom telling me to “enjoy these years because they’ll fly by” and not really realizing how true that was. I love the ages they are now but I would love to rewind, if only for a brief glimpse, to have just one of those days back. :)</p>
<p>
Ummmm, I think I just broke out in hives!!! :eek: <em>lol</em></p>
<p>Wow, always, I can only imagine how sentimental you’ve been!!! {{{{{hugs to you}}}}}</p>
<p>We do the family video dealio too…maybe we should consider videoing their reactions?? :D</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>Thanks for the hugs, berurah. It’s definitely exciting and sentimental but it sure does make me feel OLD! :)</p>
<p>Ha ha edad – when I get sentimental, I definitely flash back to the toddler years, not the teen ones! And I was definitely flashing back when my oldest left yesterday to go back to school. Pass the kleenex.</p>
<p>Okay, I have to chime in here. This thread is bringing back so many sweet memories, but one funny one that stands out is when my now HS senior (then 3-year old) said to me, “Mommy, how do people without children know when it’s time to wake up?”</p>
<p>Of course, his sleep patterns have changed a little over the years! :D</p>
<p>^^blackeyedsusan~</p>
<p>Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! Just think, now you know when to go to bed—when HE’S getting UP!! ;)</p>
<p>~b.</p>