Sunday, August 22, 2010

** SCHOOL DAYS **

When I went to school, back in the OLDEN days....we didn't start until after Labor Day. When our last day of school was, before summer vacation began, depended on how many, if any, snow days we had during the school year. So, when I see and hear about kids being back in school in the middle or end of August, it just doesn't seem right, ya know?

I have such fond memories of fall days and evenings....shuffling along in dried, fallen leaves, smelling that one-of-a-kind scent of burning leaves.....BUT, I'm not going to write about that tonight. That will have to wait for another time.....when it's not so blasted hot and humid. I am SO ready for this heat to subside.

However, I DO have something to post in honor of "School Days". This cute collage hangs in our upstairs hallway, next to a guest room and right outside my office door, so I see it often. It holds Mark's school pictures from his first grade photo through his high school senior photo.

When I bought this, complete with the school motif and ruler frame, I think Mark was in the 2nd or 3rd grade. I remember thinking how it would take soooo long to fill in every empty place, waiting for the correct year's photo. Also, I agonized over the price of it! It couldn't have been more than $10.00 or so, but money was so tight at that time. I finally decided I just HAD to have it and I would regret it forever, if I didn't buy it. I still love it to this day. There, in one frame, I can see how my little boy grew up so fast, right before my eyes. How could it have gone by so quickly? I was a stay-at-home mom. I was there. I didn't miss out on anything. I had the presence of mind to cherish every moment, and not wish he was older......yet, the years did fly by and now he's almost 23 years old. As I've said before, sometimes I really miss that cuddly little boy, while at the same time I'm so proud of the man he has become.

All you younger moms out there.....cherish your children, because one day, all too soon, you will be thinking or writing these very same words.


Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older. When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?  When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small? -- Lyrics to "Sunrise Sunset"