Reminiscing

Stumbled across Tony's post over at Sand in the Gears today and got a little misty. Before you go on, do take a minute to read it all. It's an incredibly nice break from the political. I'll wait... go...

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I posted the following in reply:

I have two boys... 19 and soon to be 17...

As I'm reading your post, I've having vague memories of my guys looking to me for comfort, security, love... and I'm agonizing over the fact that time slipped by far too quickly...

And then you write:

I should smile more often, because one day all I'll have left is what I've written, and what scraps of memories remain in my mind. But I'll be able to watch them, God willing, experience what I'm enjoying and enduring right now. I hope I prepare them well.

Oh lord, Tony, you nailed it. I don't know if my 19 and soon to be 17 year olds have been prepared well... and now, it's clear, that there's little more I can do to change that state of mind...

But oh how time does go by...

Enjoy your boys Tony... and keep writing man...

Tony did take me back but you know, I'm saddened by how hard I have to work to remember the oh so sweet times with my boys.

Playing whiffle ball with Ryan and his oversized plastic bat, and him getting a hold of one that hits me square in the cojones, my falling backward in pain, and Ryan smiling with that mischievous grin that has the incredible power to make you grin right back, despite the pain.

Cradling Richard in my arms and doing this silly thing with some small long-forgotten object where I'd stick it in my mouth, then spit it out with a loud pat-ooie, and Richard laughing so hard he'd get red-faced, and once he'd calm down, asking me to do it again, and again, and again. He and I did that for an incredibly long time and what I would give today to relive those moments.

The T-ball games, the Christmas mornings, the wagon rides, the times at the beach, the bed-time stories, the reading times and the family get togethers where our little guys were the center of attention.

Dear God how time does fly.

Now Ryan's a sophomore at James Madison University, Richard a senior in high school, and Linda and I are 9 months away from being empty nesters.

Incredible.

Those of you with little ones simply must understand, from the wisened perspective of hindsight and experience, how special this time in your life really is.

Take pictures and videos, journal, make scrap books, record your conversations, do whatever it takes, to help you remember when down the road, as the seting sun of that time as a parent with kids at home begins to darken the memories and you struggle to relive the moments, you're able to bring them back via those long ago captured snippets of time.

Because trust me, it goes by far too quickly.

Do trust me.

In any case, thanks to Tony Woodlief and the gift God's given him in his writing, a gift helping to bring back that which I too often set aside in the hustle and bustle that has become my life.

If you haven't added him to your blogroll, you are truly missing out.

Truly.