Never Grow Up!

     The house is quiet with the cold evening air wafting in and I can still hear my kids settling into their beds for the night. Only minutes before, I was practicing my, I. will. Not. Yell. skills from Tori’s wild fun of running into our hollow door closets, while Elijah chased her; and of course, Cheyenne was trying to ‘mother’ them with bossy shouts of, “Knock it off!”

   I know that they haven’t fallen asleep yet and my nerves are tense with what they may pull out of their sleeves to fight dreamland. As I sit here waiting, I know there are little angels wiggling around somewhere in those bodies. 

     As much as nights like tonight frustrate me, I know they’re growing up. Even their footsteps tip-toeing down the hall sounds different compared to just a few months before.  They grow so fast and yet time stands still with tantrums, trials, and parent-teacher meetings.  Nothing will be as simple as it now when all they need is for me to hug their problems away, be their play mate, create memories with cardboard boxes and outings to the pumpkin patch.

   Maybe I’m a little reminiscent because I’ve learned how quickly regrets can void a life, or maybe it’s because my littlest is now three. Or maybe it’s because their snow pants from nine months ago are three inches too short. Those three inches mean they are growing up; I’m not their whole world anymore.  

    Oh my darling little babies take your time growing up. Enjoy the stillness of the night when I rub your backs to sleep after we say our bedtime prayers. Make each moment count, enjoy being the age that you are, find God’s dreams for you and have fun developing the talents you have.  Don’t worry your pretty little minds about what you’ll do someday or what your friends are saying; enjoy today, I know I am!

   Maybe tomorrow, I'll be wishing time would move a bit faster with some of their tantrums and "Mommy Mommy Mommy moments", in the mean time, I'll post "Never Grow Up"  from Taylor Swift to remind me of what I'll be missing in a few short years of what God has blessed me with now.