Twenty years ago today my life changed forever. We know things will change; there will be three of us instead of two, we are responsible for another life, our bills will increase, we’ll have less time to do things, everything will take longer. But we can’t even fathom, before that first child comes into our lives, how our life will really change. Suddenly, a part of our heart is running around outside of our body. When they hurt, we hurt; when they are joyful, we are joyful. We feel deep disappointment at their failures and incredible triumph at their success. Everything that affects them affects us. I never knew there could be such a wide range of emotions felt in one day. I never knew it was possible to feel such unconditional love. It gives us a glimpse of the way God feels about us.
So, twenty years ago today, a part of my heart jumped out of my body. It cried, it laughed, it needed to be fed and changed. Wow! Now, that was three kids and twenty years ago. It’s been constant change in that time. From all the firsts: walking, talking, school, dates, to all of the people that come into your lives because of them… it is an exciting, ever-changing journey that we could never have imagined before becoming parents.
It is extremely hard to believe it has been twenty years. When my parents used to tell me that time goes faster the older you get, I never realized how fast that could be. It seems like we blinked and he went from being a 2 year old only child to being 20 with two younger sisters. Middle and high school flew by. Now he is in college. He is not home for his birthday for the first time. That makes this day even harder. I am so proud of the young man he has become. I enjoy looking back at pictures throughout the years of how he has grown and changed. It is a little sad when I think about how quickly it has gone and start missing that little boy. He has been more of a blessing to us than he will ever know! I hope he has a wonderful twentieth birthday!
