This magic moment

Four years ago, when Wife was very pregnant with Eldest, we were sitting in her OB/GYN's office waiting for her appointment, and I was perusing Parents magazine. It was the October issue, featuring kids in Halloween costumes, kids dressed for fall, school advice as well as all the usual stuff you'd find in a parenting magazine. There were several "Wow, I'm having a kid" moments throughout the pregnancy, but this is one of the few that really stands out.

I'm reading the magazine, and I realize, this will be my child dressing up for Halloween someday. It will be my child dressing warm for a crisp fall day, one in which I walk him to school. And through all of the imaginings of what his life would be like, this for some reason resonated.

Well, part of that came true today, as I walked Eldest, decked out in fall clothes to school on a crisp October morning. It wasn't quite as overcast as I'd imagined, and the leaves aren't quite falling here in Utah yet, and it was just taking him to preschool, but the whole experience did pack a minor emotional wallop.

Combine that with something I felt Sunday -- dropping him off at CCD, in the main hall of the school (his preschool is in a newer part of the building, the effect isn't the same) that just smelled like grade school, my old Catholic grade school, that mix of gentle cleaning agents, Elmer's glue and textbooks -- and I'm even more amazed I have kids, and that they are growing up, and all the things I wondered about are happening or will indeed happen. It's incredible, sad, astounding and wonderful at the same time. At least it was the past two days.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer, Day 8

Today was Memorial Day, and as far as Memorial Days go, this one seemed somewhat anticlimactic. The sun came out after three less-than-stellar days, perhaps preventing the weekend from being a total bust. I worked late last night but was awake earlier than I wanted to be this morning. I fell back asleep and woke up around 10:30 to a thumping sound outside. Michael, Lori and my father-in-law got the rest of the sand in the base of the new basketball hoop, and Michael and his friend from across the street were shooting around. This was Lori's parents' last day in Utah, so we treated them to The Cheesecake Factory at the new City Creek mall downtown. I had the macaroni and cheese burger and most of a piece of Oreo cheesecake (no matter how much I pushed on my sons -- they wanted to share Lori's banana cream cheesecake). The boys and I wandered City Creek a little and came home. The afternoon wasn't much more eventful. Michael and I took Popcorn to the park for about
Read more

Vacation finale

Image
As expected, the last three days of vacation were much less eventful than the first 12. This happens every year -- we get back from Wisconsin for at least one day before leaving for Utah, and it's just wind-down time. And that's OK -- going nonstop for two weeks isn't easy, especially with kids. And vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, and for the past three days, that's what we did. The past few days weren't that relaxing, however. Monday, we met my mom, who is in Chicago this week, for lunch and then to Old Orchard Mall. That night, we met some friends at the new Superdawg (my favorite Chicago hot dog restaurant) in Wheeling. Tuesday, after pondering going downtown, we ended up just seeing the Smurfs movie with my dad. Last night, we went to dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant here in Edgebrook. Wednesday was mostly devoted to getting ready for our return trip Thursday morning. The heat and thunderstorms finally subsided -- this might have been the m
Read more

Nine days after the solstice

Image
The summer solstice was nine days ago, but I'm only now getting around to writing my annual reflection that is supposed to be created on the first day of summer. Nine days ago, I was frenetically trying to finish up work and get ready for a road trip to Denver, where Benji was competing in a swim meet. We got back Monday afternoon, but I was too exhausted to come up to my usual spot in Donner Park. The last three nights were overcast (though the skies cleared a little too late to embark on my quest last night), spoiling the goal of watching the sunset. So, nine days later, I'm finally here. And now that I am, I'm not totally sure what to write about. To say the last year has been a blur would be cliche, and I don't think it's gone faster than any other past year. But I've been struggling to wrap my head around the current summer and, thus, what's really on my mind. I could write about how we're a year away of having two kids in college and being sort of
Read more