It's a blur...

When, exactly, did time start to speed up so much? I remember as a kid just feeling like weekends lasted forever, let alone summers. I would wake up on a summer morning with the whole day stretching ahead, like highway 66, going on and on and wonder where I might go and what I might do that day. Maybe I would shoot some hoops with my friends, maybe go exploring in the creek behind our house, maybe get a neighborhood game of kickball going, or go for a bike ride. I just know that there was so much that I could do in a day. And sometimes, I was even bored! But in that really good way, where you're just contented and lazy, like a cat. 

Even in college, time seemed pretty normal, if not slow (especially thinking of some of my three-hour classes!). You could go to class, do some work, get dinner with friends, (maybe) do some more work, and then go out for the evening.

I think it was after I had kids that time seemed to start speeding up. Not with the first one, especially in those early days, when every day seemed to last for a month, but with each new baby, the pace quickened.

Now, time is racing by so fast that I can barely hang on. Work, meetings, kids' activities (and we don't even let them do more than one a semester, and usually only let them do an after-school activity at school!), homework (for the kids and me), dinner, bath, bed. It's like one of those spinning, tilt-a-whirl things at the boardwalk rides that always makes me want to throw up!

And unfortunately, these are the times I want to slow down and savor being with my kids. They are getting to be such funny, thoughtful, independent little people and I really want to be present and focused. I definitely have a hard time finding that balance. 

But to that end, my husband just got home with my oldest from his fencing class. I'm going to stop thinking about how fast everything is going, and go have some dinner with them and talk about our day. And maybe forget about what time it is for a while.