Where Does the Time Go?

Yesterday on the way to work I had the realization that I am getting older.  I just had my 32nd birthday about a week ago and I don't think the last 7 have really sunk in like this one.  Where did the time go?  I feel like I should still be 25 with my oldest daughter laying in my lap.  I shouldn't be this old.  Then I had the next realization. My oldest daughter is 7 and that means that she only has 11 more years in my house before she goes to college!  WHAT?  She has spent almost half the time she is going to spend in my house and I haven't seen half of it.  It has just flown by.  That's just plain ridiculous in my book.  I look at her and my other girls and my baby boy in Momma's belly and wonder how did this all happen so fast.  When did I miss out?

A saying I heard years ago rings so loudly in my head right now.  "Children make your days long and your years short."  How true that is.  Most days, the kids drive us absolutely up the wall, stark mad,  raving crazy, then their 7.  What the heck?!  The worst part is that it is just getting faster and faster.  It seems like yesterday I was posting about having another child.  Guess what, he'll be born in 4 weeks or sooner.  Where did all that time go?  Next time I post, all my kids will be in college, or getting there first job, or the scariest thought of all with 3 girls MARRIED!  My mind is spinning right now and the day is gone.....

OK, back to reality.  A new coworker of mine was congratulating me yesterday on having a boy.  He told me to cherish every moment with them because you never know what may happen.  He then told me his son died in the war a few years ago.  It really adds some perspective and makes you think about what you have and what he'd give to have a few more moments with his son.  To top it off, the news is full of tragic events of children passing before their time.  Their time as far as we're concerned.  I am sure it was God's time.  I guess my thought here is that it doesn't matter how powerful your job is or how much money you make if you miss out on the most important thing in your life, your family.  By the time we get done working so we can spend time with our kids, they'll be all grown up, with jobs of their own, doing exactly what we're doing.  Working away the time that we can never get back.