AND SO IT GOES

 

Back in the day

"Wow! I can't believe how active you guys used to be."

Oy.

Out of the mouths of almost-20-year-olds...

Daniel had been browsing through some of our old photo albums, some pictures dating back to when I was but maybe four years older than Daniel is now.

"Yes, your father wasn't always parked in his easy chair in front of the TV watching Swamp People marathons," I replied, dryly. "We actually had friends, and went places and did things. Indeed, there really was a time I didn't doze off on the couch by 8 o'clock, snoring, still donned in my work clothes."

Daniel just chuckled.


I also, once upon a time, had only one chin, my eyelids didn't droop, and my hair was naturally blonde.  Oh, and I was chock full of estrogen, too. John's hair was dark brown, not gray, and there was plenty of it. We smiled a lot more, and made funny faces, always mugging for somebody's camera.

Daniel was a bit taken aback, I think, struggling to grasp the concept that his now aging/boring parents were once fun-loving, exciting, robust 20-/30-somethings.

Just the night before, we had dragged out some old VHS tapes of Daniel when he was younger -- extremely young actually -- beginning with  my first ultrasound.

"Can you believe that's you, honey? You were the size of a tiny seahorse!" I gushed.

He admitted it was a little weird to be able to see himself as a small fuzzy dot inside the womb.

Danny Boy

It occurred to me as we viewed tape after tape: It's no wonder the kid grew up wanting to be a film director and has a penchant for making movies...he had a video camera constantly stuck in his face, recording his every facial expression, his every move, for the first seven months of his life.

"I drooled a lot," Daniel observed, sounding somewhat dismayed.

"You were teething, darling," I replied. "Hence, the drooling."

We laughed a lot at his baby antics and my first-time-mom foibles.

It was a lot of fun sharing memories of the way we both were two decades ago.

Gettin' our move on

Admittedly, I got a little teary-eyed as we watched the video of our old house -- our first house --  in Cincinnati, OH, where we lived when Daniel was born and left when he was barely a month old and moved to rural Iowa.



"You won't remember this house, Daniel John," I said solemnly as I walked slowly, room to room, the video camera capturing every stuffed animal, every curtain, every piece of furniture, on tape. "But I want you to see where you first lived, so one day you will know what everything looked like."

Goosebumps.  Fast-forward.

In a nano second, it seems, that "one day" arrived and -- like Christmas morning, family game nights, and our several weeks of working together at the local grocery store over break --  the time for looking at old pictures and laughing and enjoying a little mother-son bonding has passed. For now.

It's been a longer Christmas break than usual -- roughly a month and a week -- and Daniel is all packed and chomping at the bit to head back to school tomorrow morning.

John and I, on the other hand, are feeling that old familiar tug at our hearts. We have to let go again. Just when we were getting used to having the kid, er, young man, around.

And so it goes...

See ya, Danny Boy! Have fun! Study hard!

Miss you already.

Love,
Mom and Dad