Realization

We love receiving the holiday cards from friends all around the country. Seeing the smiling faces of those we share memories with. Learning who has moved, who has a new job, whose child has started college…it brings us a smile.

Today we received the card from one of my college roommates, Jana Lu. Jana Lu and Jeff were married exactly two weeks before us and made it back from their honeymoon in time to attend our wedding. I’ve always been so appreciative of that.

They also have three children; two girls and a boy, but they got on the parenting train much more quickly than we did, so their kids are all older than our crew by a couple years.

As Buds and I were walking back from the mailbox, I handed him their annual card, with my eyes wide. Jana Lu is now the shortest person in her family. And I realized, this is probably the last year that Buds and I will be the tallest people on our holiday card. Each day that goes by, the Buster is closer and closer to looking me straight in the face.

This picture isn’t ideal for showing the height similarities since we’re all a little slouchy, and it’s difficult not to be distracted by the hairnets (Post about the hairnets to follow soon.), but this shows how close he is to catching me, and how he’s shot by his older sister.

So often in the blog I realize I’m sharing insights that centuries of parents before me have realized. Children grow up. They change. Their problems grow, their preferences alter, they choose who they are going to be.

Despite knowing I’m not sharing something new to humanity, I’m grateful for the chance to be in awe of it with these people, these children, this family. We aren’t the first family that has recognized how children turn into adults, but that doesn’t decrease the magic of it all.

Merry Christmas.