Where did the time go?
This is my post for #freewriters Friday prompt my reflection in the glass hosted by @mariannewest
When my Dad moved us from Florida to Missouri I was 14, I had 3 months to go before turning 15. I was still just a child. This was 1971. 1973 I was married with a baby on the way. In 1974 I had my first child and was living in California, 1976 I had my second child and was moving to North Carolina.
By 1977 I was back in Missouri and in 1979 had my third child and the day after he was born I was on a plane back to Florida for my brother's funeral. In 8 short years, I went from being a kid that knew nothing about sex to being a mother of 3. In 1981 I had my fourth child. I started dating my husband in 1982. In 1986 I was married and became the mother to another child that is only 3 months older than my youngest. They are both blondes and when they were young they looked alike. People would comment on the twins and I would say yes, this one is mine and that one is my husband's. I would get dirty looks.
They are all grown now and I have a hard time dealing with the empty house.
I look back and wonder how did the time go by so fast. When did I get so old my reflection in the glass does not look like the picture of me that is in my head. Life seems to go by slowly when you are in your 20's, 30's and even into your 40's but when you hit the 50's it speeds up, and in your 60's it freaking flies by. So buckle up it is a fast ride.
You and I must be the same age. I was 15 in 1972 when my family moved from Washington to Montana. Our timelines of events are not very similar, however. I graduated from high school, went to college, worked as an au pair in Germany and as a mission school teacher in Arizona, then a public school teacher for 3 years before getting married in 1983. So I was 28 before the first child was born, and 32 and 35 for the next two. And yet here you and I both are, forging ahead with the aging process and with life and grandchildren, wondering where the time went! Inside, we are still about 20 years old. It's no wonder we forget sometimes and do things our old bodies don't approve of, and we lose our balance and fall or some dumb thing like that. Our minds forget how old the rest of us has gotten.
OMG, you are spot on with the aging and mind thinking we are still young. I loved school but only went to the 9th grade. My Dad said a girl does not need an education and made me quit. I was so mad at him. He wanted me to stay home and help out around the house but I started babysitting for our neighbors and practically lived with them. I always wanted to be a math teacher, it was my favorite subject.