Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
I’ve been thinking a lot about life and growing up. It’s probably a side effect of editing my first book and dealing with the world’s most stubborn migraine.
This picture, or one just like it, showed up on the kitchen google and I suddenly felt very sad.
I love my children and I love who they are now and who they are growing up to be. There are times I see these pictures and I miss them being tiny. Life was, in many ways, simpler back then. If given the chance to go back and re-live that time, I wouldn’t want to. It wasn’t perfect and I certainly didn’t do everything right but it’s part of who we are. Given the chance to go back for a hug and snuggle from those little babies, I couldn’t say no.
I mourn every version of my children while celebrating who they are now. It doesn’t make sense but so little about parenting does.
Then this picture showed up and I felt almost the same feeling.
Again, I wouldn’t want to re-live that time but I wish I could go back for a hug and a good conversation with my mom. I wish I could be with her one more time. I wish I could tell her all about her amazing grandkids and everything Dan and I have accomplished in the past 18 years.
Then this wonderful picture showed up and I felt very different.
I love my wife. I loved her very early in our relationship and even through some rough patches, I have loved her for over twenty years. I can’t imagine my life without her. She’s my best friend, my writing partner, and a wonderful mother.
All that said, I have no interest in going back and interacting with a younger version of her. Everything she’s been through, everything she was, has made her into who she is and that’s who I love. All younger versions are shadows of who she is now and I’m overjoyed to have her now.
If you ask me in 5 years, I’ll say that that version of her is my favourite. We’re growing, learning, and living together and that is so special.
I guess If I have a point, it’s that you need to enjoy the people around you as they are now because they are going to grow and change. No one owes you stagnation and when people stop growing, you’ll miss them more than you can ever know.
With Mother’s Day this weekend:
Go hug your children, your mothers, and your wives! Tell them how much you love them because the only thing tomorrow promises is change.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric