The New Year is about to begin and it's time to say goodbye to the old. My children are no longer children and the last years of precious time as a cohesive family are slipping away. Little by little summers will be without them, holidays may soon be spent with one or the other, or perhaps, neither. They will move on with their lives from here. With them they will take some of the traditions they have enjoyed. New traditions of their own will be added to the old.
Thankfully, the years go by slowly and we adjust to the changes an inch at a time. The important things to keep in mind as you raise your children are that they will grow and move on with their own lives. Enjoy the moments and every stage, because none of them will ever come again. Take as many photos and videos as you can, they will become your most precious possessions. Don't regret a moment of it, not the craziness, not the drama, not even the heartbreaks, for they are all the moments you build your family on.
Looking forward, my life will be different but it will always be full. It is time for my books to take flight. I will shove them out of their nest and hope that they fly. It is a time for me and my husband to enjoy our time together. We have earned this moment. Our son will leave for college, our daughter is in graduate school, even our dog is entering her last years and will soon leave. The house will be quiet. But I look around me at our accomplishments and I can smile and turn my sight to the future. After all, I have one thought that will comfort me through the quiet times. They will come back. Others may come and go in our lives, but we will always have each other, my children, my husband, and me. Forever.
