My husband and I are what we like to call "mature" parents with younger kids. Truth is, we got married late, had kids late, and the math has caught up with us. What we were thinking when our kids were born when we were 35 and 38 (my age at their births) is not now clear, but it is obvious that we did not use addition in our thought process. Had we done so, we would have figured out that I would be 56 and he would be even older by the time we were empty nesters. All of this becomes more clear each year as I teach 3rd grade. I'm a year older each school year but the kids I teach are permanently frozen at age 8 or 9. Last year, one of my students remarked (while I was teaching a unit about space), "My grandma saw the moon landing LIVE." It was all I could do to simply mutter under my breath, "So did I." The great thing about teaching 8 year olds is that they really have no concept of time or age, so when my birthday rolls around each year and they ask how old I am, I give some glib answer like "Old enough to teach 3rd grade" when I really could say (at least to some of them) "Old enough to have taught your mom, too." A few years ago, my teaching teammates decorated my classroom with black balloons and contacted my room mom to ask each student to wear black to school on my 50th birthday. It was all in good fun and everyone had a blast, but I still think the kids looked at me all day and thought "Wow. 50. We have an OLD teacher." In subsequent years, my birthday has passed with considerably less fanfare, and even though I'm certain that my kids' parents know that I'm "one of the older teachers at school" (talk about a euphemism) I don't think the kids really have any idea how old I am and how quickly the world is changing.
Needless to say I was born in a world when there were 48 stars on the American flag (GASP!), 3 channels on black and white TV (no remotes), and people still sent (very expensive) telegrams when they had to get information to another person quickly (overnight.) Houses had dial telephones, and people got busy signals if they called and we were talking to another caller. The first car I remember did not have seat belts, we rode bikes without helmets, and my mom carried me in her arms when my dad drove her home from the hospital after I was born. Color TV, cable, the 24 hour news cycle, the internet, email, downloadable music, iPods (all 300 upgrades), satellite TV, twitter, myspace, facebook, and now google+ were beyond imagination. There were no microwave ovens, and most people ate home cooked meals at home, and it was a much simpler time. I tell my mom that I have turned into an "old person" almost overnight because there are times when I think about how much simpler life used to be. I often wish we did not live in this hurry-up-and-wait- OMG- my -computer- takes- so- long -to- boot- up and why- is- the- microwave- taking- so long- society? I like technology as much as the next person: I have an iPod, a kindle, facebook and twitter accounts, a cell phone and several email addresses, but sometimes it is nice just to curl up with a good book, turn off the TV and phone and just BE.
Having said that, a lot of my friends blog and I enjoy reading what they write. I wrote a blog once-when Dusty and I went on the Close Up trip to Washington for the 2009 inauguration--and it got rave reviews. It is fun to be connected and to stir the memories and imaginations of readers. My teenage kids shudder at the thought of my blog (they are lukewarm about my facebook page and frequently untag themselves from the pictures I post) but I have promised not to write anything embarrassing and will keep my word.
To other moms out there, I will conclude with the most accurate description of motherhood I ever got--from my own mom when I had been up all night with a sick baby: "The days are long and the years are short." Truer words were never spoken. If you are a mom, find a way to hug on, love on, or otherwise affirm your child every chance you get--time passes way too quickly!
