Spring Ahead

I could hear them talking about their babies.


“I can’t wait until this child can feed herself. Sometimes it seems like my entire day consists of holding her and feeding her!”...
“I can’t wait until this one is potty trained. Two kids in diapers is too much. It feels like it’s never ending.”...
I can’t wait until mine can crawl, or better yet walk! I wish she was more self sufficient so I could actually get some things done.”...


I looked over at my own children, now adults and remembered days like this.
Days I wished I could spring ahead.


But I also remembered~
I can’t wait until this child can feed herself...


I wish she would let me cuddle with her like
she did when she was a baby.


I can’t wait until he’s potty trained...


Look at him in the bathroom now,
getting ready for his date.
How can this be possible?


I can’t wait for her to crawl and walk and be more self sufficient...


Mom, I’m going out with my friends.
I’m leaving for college.
I’m moving out.
I’m getting married...

It isn’t never ending.
There comes a day when it all ends.
A day when you wish you could go back and hold them again.
A day when you have all the time in the world to get things done.


Suddenly their childhood is over as quickly as it arrived. Everything is new and different.
Empty arms. Empty bathrooms.
Empty homes.
Sometimes lonely~like a long, cold winter.


But then everything changes.
Winter turns into Spring.
Old thoughts become transformed.


They turn into~
I can’t wait until this child can feed herself...


Mom I made you and dad dinner.
I’ll bring some over.


I can’t wait until he’s potty trained...

Son, can you train me to use all this
technology and help me create a blog?


I can’t wait for her to crawl and walk and become more self sufficient...


She’s such an amazing mother.
And she’s such an amazing daughter.
She tells me how much she loves me
and how thankful she is for the way
we raised her.
And she tells me that she now
realizes all the sacrifices and all the love
that went into everything her
dad and I did for her growing up.
Her sufficiency turns into gratitude.


Winter has turned into Spring again.
And just like leaves fall away from their home in the cold months of winter,
each of my children left the home my husband and I built for them.


But then there is a rebirth of all the beauty your heart and home once held, and what I once thought would be sadness has blossomed into joy again.


I once read this quote~
‘The earth laughs in flowers.’
That made me smile, despite looking outside at the dark and muddy barrenness winter holds over her.


Because I know what’s coming.


Don’t hold onto the long, dark winter months. Look for the incredible new blooms.
Look for the rebirth of every single thing you sacrificed, everything you taught them and all the love and prayers you poured into them.


Look for Spring,
it is only just ahead and
it’s incredibly beautiful.