Sands of Time

There's a cliched saying about the "sands of time," though I can't really remember the exact wording at this moment.

The meaning is there, though.

"Sands of time"...meaning time is hard to actually hold onto.

I've lamented many times on here that time is flying by. The kids grow at an amazingly-fast pace and I am having a hard time keeping up.  I cannot even keep up with myself at the moment.

When I was a kid, I remember trying to pick up sand.  I would grab a handful and try to carry it to wherever I was building something, and by the time I got there it was almost all gone. I'd open up my fingers and only a few grains were left.  It was frustrating and inspiring at the same time. I would try to think of ways that I could hold it that would enable me to get it -- or most of it -- to the spot where I needed it.  Nothing worked.

Of course, all I needed was a bucket.  But either I was too young to think about that, or I didn't have one handy.

That's how it feels with kids, sometimes.

The harder I try to hold onto them, the faster they seem to grow and pull away.  And as they pull away, so I pull away.  The faster time goes by -- the less of it I'm actually experiencing.

I watch my daughter -- nearly a teen -- going off to different events, functions, activities...and I long for the day when she was a baby in my arms, depending only on me and her daddy.

Summer is flying by -- like all the other months of the year -- and with the end of it comes a new beginning for Emily and me.  She hits her "teens" and I hit my 40s.

Odd, really.

But just numbers.

Numbers that are like those granules of sand that fell through my grubby childlike fingers all those years ago. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep them there.....