Growing Up

My friend and neighbor stopped by my house today with her kid. I think the last time I saw her son he was just learning to crawl. Actually, I didn't see him crawl; I had heard about it since we had met up after he had gone to sleep so the last time I saw him was... at a wedding in the summer? Lets just say its been a while. Anyway, my friend and I chatted for a few minutes and made promises to catch up later that week. Then she took her son's hand and as I watched them walk away, I realized that my friend was now really a mom. Yes, she's been a mom for a while, but watching her take her son's hand while trying to make conversation (consisting of one syllable words), I finally saw her in that "mom" light. The one where priorities shift away from having fun to spending time with her family and spends her Saturdays cheering from the sidelines at her kid's basketball game. And it was then I realized that I was getting older.

Its funny how these moment become enlightenments. Yes, I'm married, have a steady job and celebrate my birthday every year but still in the midst of it all, I forgot that as life was happening, it was also progressing. That I'm closer to 30 that I am to 20 (this is the one time where reminding myself that 30 is the new 20 doesn't work), that gravity is no longer my friend and I'm more likely to break a hip than break it down (ok, that one is a bit of a stretch). But living life day to day, I forget that I'm getting older since I feel the same inside. At least until I look in the mirror and see the new lines forming on my face. I know that as we get older and have children, life will become more fulfilling (at least thats what I'm hearing). But I can't but sometimes long for the days where life was filled with shortlived yet carefree moments.