This is the time to remember

Dear Readers, You know those times when you can't get a certain song out of your head? It keeps playing repeatedly in your mind and the lyrics seem to relate to everything you are currently experiencing in your life. Sometimes it's annoying. Sometimes it's poignant and purposeful. The later was the case for me this week and the song was Billy Joel's 1986 rock ballad, "This is the Time to Remember." "This is the time to remember 'Cause it will not last forever These are the days To hold on to 'Cause we won't Although we'll want to." Yesterday we attended the 1st birthday party for two of the babies (twin boys) in our prenatal group. The moms are bonded as our babies are very close in age and we are experiencing milestones around the same time. I am deeply thankful for their friendships because there's no one else that quite understands the complex feelings I have experienced this year like these women. As we stood around their highchairs and watched them blow out their birthday candle, I had a year of new parenthood memories flash before me. I was reminded that these babies will only be this little for such a short time. Parents like to remind me of this, and I try not to take that for granted. We are in the middle of planning Evie's 1st birthday so these bittersweet memories will hit me even harder next month. "This is the time to remember, 'Cause it will not last forever..." My other "Billy Joel moment" came this morning when I dropped off Evie in the nursery room at church. The ladies, who have seen her almost every week since she was five months old, commented on how big she has gotten and didn't come in with a stroller or as much gear. For the first time I just carried her in my arms and strapped on her backpack. She started waving to the ladies as we entered the room. They highlighted these little milestones, and I realized how I will one day look back fondly and remember how young she was when we first started going there. "Although we'll want to." I'll admit that it's hard to appreciate and celebrate every milestone while we're still going through them, though we know we should. Time is a thief, and we only want to go through this once as Evie will be our only child. Though being a working SAHM (stay-at-home mom) to an infant is exhausting at times and sometimes I still can't believe I am doing it, I try to "hold on to" these days and live without regrets. I want to look back on these blogs and be reminded of just how far Evie and I have come together over the past year. I hope I feel proud.

He may not have realized when he wrote these lyrics, but Billy Joel perfectly described a parenthood philosophy we should all embrace.