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| Boating with my baby |
This Friday is the 20th anniversary of my becoming a parent, otherwise known as my daughter Shelby's 20th birthday, in fact her golden birthday since it is on the 20th. It also marks the point where I will have been raising my kids for half of my life. For anyone slow with math, I'm also turning 40 in a few weeks so if my daughter is 20, I've been parenting half my life.
20 years of scraped knees, of chasing after runaway turtles (they are faster than you think), of meeting imaginary friends, having birthday parties for said imaginary friends, of finding more uses for duct tape than I care to admit, and mostly 20 years of wondering how time was going by so fast.
Shelby who I used to piggy back around the yard, now towers over me by a good 4 inches and is in college. She just took her first road trip on her own and someone safely crossed state lines without me sitting there telling her what to do every step of the way.
Seems like just a few years ago I was duct taping my middle daughter Kelsey into her diaper at night so she couldn't take if off in the morning and attempt to recreate the Mona Lisa on her wall with its contents. In a few weeks she will be a senior in High School. Now the only duct tape I use on her is the one I throw at her as I yell at her to tape her own mouth shut when she gets smart with me.
My baby, my son, my Prince Jared is going into the 6th grade. How the hell did that happen so fast? My little baby who used to play with my hair while he fell asleep now has his own cell phone and won't let me hug him in public.
I've had many adventures in my life but I must say, though parenting has not been the most rewarding, it continues to be the most worthwhile adventure of all. Maybe the rewarding part is still to come. The part where my kids grow up, become rich and take care of their father and I in our old age. Allowing me to spend my twilight years drinking red wine in Italy while writing a travel column for the AARP.
Cheers to Shelby's golden birthday and cheers to half a lifetime engaged in a meaningful, worthwhile adventure of a lifetime.
4 comments:
Time does pass so quickly and it's so important to enjoy each day. P.S. Loving the Mona Lisa comment LOL
Being a parent for half your life? Heck you have lots of years left. Great article and I love the tender memories that you so clearly display with your words. Happy Birthday to Shelby too!
I have been asking this for years without an answer, what's the point of noting a birthday is golden? Almost everyone I have asked knows what the golden birthday is, yet nobody can give me one good reason why we acknowledge a "golden birthday."
Do you get free dinner for 10 instead of just yourself at Denny's on your golden birthday? Do they send you home with a can of hickory smoked Spam in addition to your free meal at Denny's because it's your golden birthday?
What makes turning 20 on Aug. 20 any more special than turning 21 on Aug. 20? What makes turning 2 on Sept. 2 any more significant than turning 40 on Sept. 2?
The answer, of course, is nothing, and nobody has been able to tell me differently.
It's because of this kind of self-absorption that the rest of the world hates us.
Anonymous needs to lighten up a little and enjoy life more...
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