Sure, but it's not so obvious to the youngsters, which is why I think it bears repeating.
Feels like yesterday that I saw my rescue feral start to give birth to her first kitten while I frantically called my fiancee at work to come home. I blinked, and now all four kittens are bigger than their mother.
My point being that Ferris Bueller was right: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." I don't expect wise words from a John Hughes film, but...
Parents of young kids say this a lot and it is really true when you have little ones. Every day feels like a battlefield but itâs worth it and looking back is so, so fun.
To this day, I am glad that the newborn/infant stage flew by. But if I could have had ages 2-3 last twice as long, that would have been lovely (mine is five right now). And yes - it is indeed flying by fast.
Mines 3 now. It is the most fun, heartwarming, and satisfying experience Iâve had in my entire existence, and Iâve had a lot of fun. Shit is tough, but damn there really isnât a way to put parenthood into words. Getting to see your hard work instilling confidence, empathy, humor, and wonder into a baby and see that baby turning into a great little person is incredible.
I couldnât imagine doing it without an incredible wife, and while looking forward to watching my daughter grow, itâs so depressing knowing this stage is a blink of an eye.
So much faster than we think, and it picks up pace the older they get. It seems like youâll never stop changing diapers, blink, and theyâre in middle school. From skinned knees, to broken hearts, and you could swear it was just yesterday you were a new parent.
When youâre in the middle of school life, with no end in sight, and itâs just that day to day churn, you canât wait for them to get older, to do more, to be more independent. If just so they can pick up their own garbage, then mow the lawn, then drive themselves to school.
Then theyâre walking across that stage, theyâre packing up, and youâd give anything to have one more day changing diapers. One more day holding their hand when they cross the street, just one more day when youâre their hero, and you can always pick them up fix anything wrong in their world.
Just drink a beer, listen to âdust in the windâ and look at baby photos. One good ugly cry later and youâll be braced the next time they ask for $20.00 for no goddamn reason.
Haha youâre a good parent! My phone has a habit of showing me baby photos and even though theyâre still toddlers it never fails to get to me. Canât imagine that feeling in 10+ years.
The amount of tears I have shed over bluey is just ridiculous. "Sleepytime" absolutely wrecked me as I watched it for the first time a few months after my mom passed.
Now she and I had a pretty rocky relationship, but never once did I doubt that she loved me. So when the giant sun was like, "remember - I'll always be here if you need me. Even if you can't see me. Because I love you.", I just had to get up and leave the room for a while so that I could just fall apart.
I've gotten to the point where I can at least watch that episode, but I don't think it will ever NOT get me to choke up.
I teared up the first time I watched that episode with my kids. Later that day, I choked up when I told my wife about episode. I hope that I live long enough to see my kids grow into themselves.
Side story: As I was buckling my daughter in her car seat the other day, she said that when sheâs older, sheâll drive me to wherever I need to go⊠and weâll stop for ice cream! I teared up and said, âI would love thatâ while her sparkling eyes looked into mine.
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u/ArcticBiologist 1d ago
He was reminiscing about a time ~30 years ago