Watching them grow

Today as we were leaving the gym, both of my kids ran from the childcare room over to the water fountains. Marc took a drink from the tall one, and Lisey took a drink from the shorter one.

This may not seem like any big deal. But I had to stop for a minute and catch my breath. Because I had this flash of carrying Lisey in my arms because she couldn't even walk yet, while balancing Marc on my knee to boost him up so he could reach the water fountain, and him being drenched all the way down the front of his shirt because he hadn't quite mastered the skill of pushing the button while drinking.

I had to take a deep breath and literally fight back tears. I know it was just such a small thing. But I suddenly had this overwhelming sense of time passing too quickly and I felt dizzy, like the 3 1/2 years between when Marc first used that water fountain and that moment had just gone whizzing past my head. They grow so gradually I don't notice it until instances like this, and then it just surprises the hell out of me how big they are.

I came home to find that a set of birds has again used my lavender wreath on the front door to build a nest. There are three baby birdies in there, peeping away while the mother bird is sitting on the nearby dogwood tree having a fit that my cat Charlie is out sleeping on the porch. And life goes on.