Reminders

01.07.2011

I recently was sent photographs of the kids I used to baby-sit and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a picture of the boy for whose birth I was present. I stood in my kitchen and just stared because I couldn’t believe that 13 years had passed. I know it sounds cliché and the passing of time only gets faster with each year we witness, but it was just hard to accept.

I’ve been told often by someone I know that children are ours not only temporarily but really just as a loan. Yes, they are ours biologically and we have that tie to them, but… they really aren’t. We bring them into the world but we don’t own them. From the beginning the child experiences life on their own with his/her interpretations and understandings so, ostensibly, we’ve never truly had them.

The pictures of the kids that I used to baby-sit reminded me how precious is our time and how important it is to value your loved ones. We don’t get yesterday back and we don’t get to relive today. I think children are part of that reminder.