Yesterday I found myself in the middle of the grocery isle at Walmart with tears welling in my eyes. One minute, I was looking for a can of Rotel tomatoes and the next minute my face was turning about as red as a tomato. Nothing bad happened, I was just passed by a young mom; a mom who had a cart full of groceries and her three kids in tow.
A young mom… that used to be me.
I remember going grocery shopping when the kids were all younger, thinking “this is going to be my life forever.” You know, getting the backs of your ankles clipped by one of the kids who wants to drive the cart but isn’t paying attention, one who is upset that you didn’t get the right kind of cereal, and the other one crying in the cart because he is clearly too big to be sitting in there anyway (but you need to feel like you can contain at least one of them).
I loved taking the kids to the store with me because it was our time out of the house together. We enjoyed our trips to the store. Especially Sam’s where we got to have a little appetizer at the beginning of each isle. (Truth be told, we just had an appetizer tasting at Sam’s this last weekend…chicken salad was on point.) Anyway, I also remember those few times of getting to go grocery shopping by myself and it was like a spa day. The quiet, tranquil (or at least as tranquil as Walmart can get) moments of solitude came pretty far and in between when my littles were just that…little.
And yesterday, standing in Walmart by myself, that thought hit me like a ton of bricks.
You see, they aren’t so little anymore.
No longer do I need to make pillows of powdered sugar in the grocery carts when they fall asleep because kindergarten is hard work…
No longer do they need me to cut up their grapes into tiny pieces so they don’t choke, or makes “ants on a log” for snack. Now if they’re hungry they make a sandwich, some ramen or find a quick snack to munch (and still manage to get crumbs everywhere).
No longer do we need to translate their words for family members and friends because they have no clue what “see lala”, “pips”, or “para-gize” means. Now, our kids have to translate to us what all of the lingo is nowadays, followed by an “ok, boomer”.
No longer do they fall asleep in our arms and we very picturesquely carry them off into their beds to tuck them in. Luckily, we do still have one that I can still pick up, and if he does fall asleep near me on the couch, I can still carry him upstairs. Although now, it’s more like a work out for me leaving me breathless at the top of the stairs.
No longer do we play “band” and have an obnoxious parade around the house banging our instruments. Now we have kids that can play real instruments…really well… in a real band.
No longer do the other siblings have to sit in the cart to hold their sleeping brother, while I struggle to find a place to put the groceries.
No longer do we play “school” with each other and our stuffed animals. Now, they’re all in school full time, doing amazing “real school stuff” (one of them with only 2 1/2 years left before she leaves for college).
No longer do we have a “Baby on Board” sticker to alert other drivers that we have precious cargo on board with us. Now, we have a “Student Driver Please Be Patient” sticker to alert those same drivers that the once precious cargo that was in our backseat not so long ago, is now driving US around. 
A while back I had a friend tell me that “time is a thief that she would rob” and I couldn’t agree more. It seems like time is fleeting and it’s so important to cherish each and every single moment we have together with our young ones. If yours aren’t in school yet, let me just tell you that time flies, but it definitely seems to speed up once kids begin school.
I have equally loved every single season of life that my kids have gone through so far. Even though when you’re right in the middle of some of those seasons and you aren’t even sure if you’ll survive. (Hello, “fricken 4’s”!)
Somehow, as my kids get older, the seasons just keep getting better than the last…more than I ever thought imaginable.
Parenting is definitely not for the faint of heart, because although we want to keep them with us in “our cart” forever, it’s ultimately our goal to send them off into the world (or Walmart) with memories and life skills that hopefully they will appreciate as much as we do.
For all of you parents who are still in the season of shopping with carts full of groceries and your littles…hold onto those moments. Cherish them, and soak them in…for one minute you will be there, and the next you’ll find yourself choked up in the middle of Walmart by yourself.
I miss all of those things that we used to do, but oh how I look forward to the things we still have yet to do and how (even as they get older) I know they’ll still need us. Obviously not to rock them to sleep, cut up their food, or drive them back and forth to school events…but other, bigger things.
When I enrolled at UNC 2 years ago, I knew that I would be on an unforgettable journey to finish college. To get a chuckle out of others on social media, I immediately began a hashtag dubbed, #collegelifeat33. Before long, I found myself sharing my struggles, my jokes, my experience…my real life as a college student using the hashtag. Then, I turned 34. Now what? I simply changed it to #collegelifeat34 and kept on sharing and pushing forward.
mrsmomdragon 