Sinking In

It is all starting to sink in. My first baby... is not - a baby - anymore. In-fact, he makes all 6 foot of me look a bit on the petite side. : )

I dropped his graduation announcements in the mailbox today. I have to say that the tears were falling.

I just don't understand where the last 18 years have gone. I do. But... I really don't.

Wasn't it LAST MONTH that I was being a "semi" ugly American demanding to hold my baby within an hour of my c-section in Bangkok? They did not get that at all! But I won that battle!

How is it that it feels as if I were walking him down the street in Millilani, Hawaii for his first day of kindergarten - LAST WEEK?

I remember every word that his fifth grade teacher, in Jakarta, told me upon his completion of elementary school - seriously... like it was YESTERDAY.

Wasn't I just "cutting-up" with Ruthie in the uniform shop in Canberra while Joey was trying on his Senior High Jacket and Tie?

We have been around the world and back... and my little man has become a young man. I wish - sometimes - that we could just go back around the world the other way and he would be small again.

How will I ever manage when he leaves for University in the fall?

And... isn't it so interesting that a parent's longing for the past is only matched by a young adult's longing for the future? Joey is so excited about University... and he is ready... and I will manage... and put a lot of miles on my car going to visit!

Last night, Joey officially accepted his scholarship to University of Alabama.