Thursday, May 10, 2007

once were babies



each school day, i walk down to the end of the driveway and wait for the big yellow school bus to pull up and spit my babies out and back into my arms.

you'd think it would stop being shocking to me when the babies that get off the bus are tall, with long, thin legs. they are laughing at friends' jokes, they are toothy and a little gawky. they ARE NOT BABIES. they are KIDS. they hug and kiss me as they always have, even though their friends are watching, and i'm wondering when this, too, will stop. hopefully never!

i still see them as my babies, and there's a good possibility that i always will see them as my babies, even though they are no longer babies.

the above photo sits on our mantel and reminds me of those funny and difficult days when they were very small. h was a total nutcase... into everything, never sleeping, and very dynamically creative. a shy in public mama's boy. s was bright, sunny, easygoing, and sweet. the photo has their personalities... from both then AND now... intact.

11 comments:

Beenzzz said...

What an adorable photo! Yeh, it is amazing how fast they grow. Mine is changing every day and she's getting taller and taller. She offers me advice sometimes, which I absolutely adore. It's like she's this old intelligent soul in this young body.

hellomelissa said...

beenzzz-- i'm sure they'll both end up taller than me (and i'm 5'8") and that scares the snot out of me. to look UP into my babies faces?? sheesh!

and sometimes i get advice, but at this point it's advice on things like how to get upstairs in rollerskates (thanks, s).

Booklogged said...

Aren't they precious? I love that picture and can understand why you keep it where you can see it often. Their personalities remind me of my grandkids. The oldest, a quiet, thoughtful, jokester and all boy and the youngest a girl who is full of sunshine and a zest for living.

Heidi said...

Ohh, such a sweet picture. Time goes by so fast when we they are young and we are so busy. I want to go home from work NOW and kiss my kids right away.

Lotus Reads said...

That picture is the sweetest, Melissa and yeah I know exactly how you feel when you see your kids get off the bus....my teen no longer comes on the bus but in her friends' cars. Many of them are turning or have turned 16 this year so they have drivers' licenses. The years have flown by so fast, *sob*

Andie D. said...

I still call my 5 year old boy my "baby". It's like a little script now. I call him baby, he says he's not a baby, and I say yes, but you'll always be MY baby.

TIME FLIES!

Autumn's Mom said...

*sniff* I tell Autumn all the time I need pictures, because when she's gone that's what I'll have left of my baby.

BB Church said...

yup, this is what happens... I remember being in the hospital rooms while my wife birthed our daughters; Reed who was born with her eyes open, Maud who was born blue, like a little Krishna, Phoebe who squirted out wet and slippery like a seal. It seemed that overnight I lived in a house filled with laughter and shouting and punches and tears, and then all three were teenagers, and then the oldest moved out, and then the middle went to Paris, and now the youngest is getting ready to leave high school and spend the summer in San Francisco with her sisters. And then it will be very very quiet.
It's weird. Going to MySpace and reading your kid's page. "Do you get along with your parents?" "Sometimes"...

Anonymous said...

I think back on my parents in kind of the same way as you look at your children. Mom and Dad are forever the people I knew when I was a girl, not the older people they became.

J said...

Wow ally bean, you got it with that one. Melissa, the picture is beautiful, and yeah...sometimes I'm surprised when everyone around me changes, and I just stay the same. Then I look in the mirror and say, 'oh...'

Unknown said...

What a cute picture! Maybe they will never grow out of their displays of affection!