Today Addie and I went on her last school shopping trip to get her ready for her Senior year!! We had so much fun as we walked through the mall and had really great conversation. There is a lot of her childhood that we missed out on, either from being too stressed to slow down, or just too wrapped up in ourselves to notice the "last' milestones. I don't want to miss out on this one.
Wes and I were babies when we had our first child, our son was born in 2002, and Addie was 2005. When Rylan was a few months old we sat and talked about how "one day" he would be off to school...that felt like yesterday, and now he has been graduated for 2 years..HA! Rylan graduated during the height of the beginning of COVID and missed out on a lot of "lasts" he would have regularly had. Addie will (hopefully) have a fairly normal Senior year and will have a chance to enjoy her "last" moments. Her last shopping trip for new school clothes, he last school dances, her last high school lunch room days, the list goes on.
As I watched her rummage through clothes I had to catch my emotions and just allow the memories to flood through. Her little baby fat filled cheeks looking up at us as we said goodbye for her first day of Kindergarten, the time she split her chin in preschool, the school time lunches with her and her friends during 1st grade, the school dancing programs at the end of the year...etc. There are so many moments that I remember and so many I wish I had experienced a little more fully, you see, each moment could be a "last" and I haven't been so good at capturing and remembering these milestones. My goal is to be better at remembering and relishing in those "lasts"...I wish I had been so much better with our son, but I wasn't to the growth I am now as an individual...and I did my very best.
We are so wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget there are so many precious moments all around us. I encourage you to take some time either today or tomorrow to reminisce, relish, and enjoy "last" moments you have had or are having with your loved ones. We are here for a short time, it's time we are all more a bit better at being present.
Have a beautiful rest of your day/night <3 <3 <3 so much love and light