And Six To Go...

Last night was a big night. It was the parent information night at the local Jr. High…the same Jr. High School where my oldest will go in a few months. This day has been looming for a while, but I can usually swallow hard and manage to forget it for a while. It wasn’t quite as easy to forget last night as I listened to all the opportunities and responsibilities that lay ahead of him in the next couple of years.

He’ll be 12 this year. Which doesn’t mean 12…it means we’re two-thirds done. There are plenty of reminders that our work is two-thirds done. He is wearing deodorant without being told now, he is somewhat conscious of wanting to wear matching clothes and we haven’t bought him a kids meal in quite a while. But there’s those nagging thoughts…have I taught him enough? Have I told him at least two-thirds of the things I want him to know…about family, about life…about God?

I didn’t cry last night…oh, those tears will come soon enough…at the end of year party and the clap-out where he will walk the halls of his elementary school for the last time…and when I drop him off for the first day ‘there’…that place that will turn my little freckle-faced, rosy-cheeked, lanky boy into a teenager.

I will brace myself for those days…but right now I don’t want to dwell on the fact that time is flying by…I want to soak in every precious minute with this great kid. He likes Survivor Man and Myth Busters…but can still recite almost every line of most Sponge Bob episodes. He doesn’t like ice cream, but loves chocolate chip muffins. He likes books about history and shooting guns. He loves swimming and baseball and riding his bike. He’s picky about the way clothes feel…not the way they look. He’s almost as tall as me. His room is usually messy with nerf darts, candy wrappers, and socks. He loves hangin with his daddy. He’s nice to his brother…most of the time.

So go away ticking clock. I want to enjoy every last minute of this…