Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Short Years

At my school, there is a tape measure where the faculty kids can measure their height and mark the passage of time.  The other day, after more than a few people had observed that my baby is nearly taller than I am,  JT and I stopped by to measure his height.  At 5 foot 2 inches, he's an inch away from being my height.  He can hardly wait for that moment when he tops me.   As for me, I'm not so sure about what all that height means.

There are some students in this year's senior class, 17 year olds whom I have known since they were 7.  These tall, capable, bright, young men are in my classroom this year, towering over me, and examples of the sort of maturity that is just around the corner in my house. 

At 5 foot 2 inches last week, JT was the same height as those Senior boys were in 2006.  When I realized that,  I was struck by the fact that five years has just flown by for those once-little boys who are now in my classroom on the cusp of adulthood.  Meanwhile, things are changing in my house far faster than I could have imagined.  Poof, and my baby is a boy.  And then my boy is a tween.  And my tween is on his way to full-sized teenage status.  When I first became a mama, a friend said to me that the nights are long but the years are fast.  These days, that truth is really staring me in the face.

1 comment:

Nichole said...

I feel you, girl. :-) Dade towers over me, but he still wants to hug everybody in sight. He's growing into his body but hanging on to his childhood. It's a pretty crazy time!