Time Passes

A beautiful tree we saw on our walk today

A week ago, I posted pictures of the Rhododendrons in our neighborhood. They were so beautiful I couldn't help but talk about them. Today, when I walked with Mickey, most of them were bedraggled. They're flowers were drooping or outright falling off. They have gone from breathtaking to pitiful in such a short time. It made me think of how quickly time passes.

Last February marked the twenty year anniversary of the day we moved into our house. It seems like yesterday. And yet a lifetime has gone by. My son's lifetime. He is nineteen and was born almost exactly a year after we moved in. In that time we have had five cats and two dogs. Two of the cats and one of the dogs have passed away, breaking our hearts. That is the price we pay for having companion animals in our lives. I can't imagine life without them.

During the time we have lived here, my parents have both died, leaving me feeling adrift. My marriage and family kept me going during those days.

My son has gone through diapers, elementary school, junior high and the first two years of high school. He is finishing the second two years at college and is bound for university in the fall to finish the last two years of his B.S. in computer science. The little boy who took two years to say Mama, using a hand gesture to call me, rather than the word, is going away in three months. This doesn't really seem possible. He can't possibly be old enough to go away, and yet he drives and he votes. He is a grown man as I remind him when he forgets to get his laundry out. He is my baby and yet he is neither mine nor a baby any longer. I will miss him, but he is ready for the world. I'm just not absolutely sure the world is ready for him.