As those who follow my blog know, I am deep in the thick of wedding planning for my daughter Ashley’s wedding this week. Today as we were working on getting the song list together for the DJ and listening to different songs when I was suddenly hit with this overwhelming feeling of sadness as I thought about just how fast my time with her has gone.
I thought about the very first moment I ever felt her kick within my belly. I thought about the moment I saw that perfect little face for the very first time. I thought about her first cry, her first smile, her first hair bow, her first laugh, her first tooth, her first steps, her first scraped knee, the first time she called out to me because she was afraid of the dark and wanted me to stay with her, the first time she said something sassy, her first day of school, taking her out trick-or-treating for her first time, her first dance recital… and now suddenly here we were 22 years into it picking the song for her first dance at her wedding…and it felt as if all of it had happened in the blink of an eye.
Oh, how I wish we had the option to go back in time and slow down the clock so that I could again relive every single second of my baby girl’s life with my now deeper understanding and appreciation of just how precious each of those moments truly were at those times and just how quickly they were all going to pass by…and if only I’d understood back then just how deeply I would someday long to have those precious moments back again… Too often we only come to fully appreciate those moments we had only after they’ve gone.
As I sat there today with tears streaming down my face feeling a bit silly for getting emotional, I recognized that while I can’t ever go back and be able to relive those past precious moments again, what I can do is commit myself to being more appreciative and present in the moments now and going forward so that 22 years from now I’ll look back knowing I lived each new moment with her to the fullest.
Be present and appreciative of every moment you have with your children. It’s easy to get complacent and think you still have all the time in the world with them, but you don’t…they will be grown up in the blink of an eye…don’t miss a second of that time…
Me and My Baby Girl
~Amy Rees Anderson
