Nineteen and one-half

With Jennifer off enjoying the Terrible Beauty, the responsibility to keep up the Monday blog has fallen to me, her mother. I am a little nervous but excited about this opportunity.

I recently had an event occur and I remember thinking, “I should write that down sometime.” The next day the opportunity presented itself, so here goes nothing.

I was in my bedroom (don’t get nervous, just keep on reading), folding clothes when the rush of a distant memory washed over me. It happened in an instant but so many thoughts flooded my mind, I sat down on my bed and just took the time to enjoy the recollection. As I continued to think about this moment over the next couple of days, an interesting thought occurred to me. While in my early twenties, I realized that changes occur frequently in life and there is nothing you can do about many of them. They happen, we adjust, life goes on. I have lived out that philosophy since then and enjoy taking part in God’s providence on a daily basis. When this beautiful rush of memory swam over me, I realized that while the only constant in life is change, it is also true that the more things change, the more they stay the same, as evidenced by the following:

I am sitting on my bed, folding laundry. It is a cool, winter day and the neighbor kids are riding bikes in the street. I don’t know where it came from, but I was taken back in time to when I was in my room, playing with Gregg on my bed. He is an infant, straining to laugh, arms and legs flailing, squeals, giggles, as he lays on my bed looking up at me. I hear the girls in the hallway:

(1993) “Mommy! Can we go out front!!!?” (I hear the breeze blow through opened windows, traffic in the distance, children playing across the street.)

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. We just want to go out in the front yard.”

“Okay, but wait for me.”

“You don’t have to come Mom. We can go out by ourselves. Stay in with Gregg and watch us from the window.”

2008) “Mom, can we go to Ireland?”

(I hear the blood rush in my ears, the room is spinning, I know what's coming).

“Why? What’s in Ireland?”

“Aside from the obvious, we don’t know, but we want to visit there.”

“But I can’t go with you. School you know.”

“We know. We want to go by ourselves, just Ash & Jen.”

Although it appears as if many years passed between exchanges, I actually think it was about a week. Life does go on, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thank you God.