Memory

When the kids were little I remember people always saying " Enjoy them while they're young, before you know it they'll be in college." Some days were endless; the toddler phase of danger lurking every where , be it something to choke on or falling from a high place they had climbed to while I turned my back. Then came the physical fighting phase of brothers two and a half years apart. Emerson Hospital flashed before my eyes on a daily basis or so it seemed. I was teaching full time throughout most of their childhood and it seemed someone was always sick. I knew certain people judged me harshly and that stung. Later came the verbal torment. Some days I was so stressed and tired it seemed they would never grow up, much less go to college. Those were the dark days, we all have them I told myself.

Then there were the delicious days and I would secretly wish they would never grow up, never leave our perfect nest. One night when I was lying in bed with Peter reading ( at that point he was reading to me ) he said " Mummy, if I don't want to go to college I don't have to, right? "

I said " No, you don't have to honey but I think you'll want to, college is amazing. " He replied

" Well, when I go to college can I live at home? " I said " Yes, of course you can."

Now the sweet snuggly little boy who worried so about leaving home is about to graduate from Bates College. Paul and I keep asking each other " Where did the time go? " It is both surreal and stunning!