Grasshopper New Media Presents...

I have a bad habit of not aging my children in my brain, sometimes.

In my mind, we’ll just keep doing activities we’ve always done, and, then when things change, I am perpetually surprised.

For example, my oldest will be in 8th grade next year, and, she’s always played soccer. So, when she said she decided not to play soccer this fall, my first reaction was, “HUH? What do you mean no soccer?!” For a moment, I had no comprehension of not watching her play on Saturdays.

The fact is, though she’s pretty good at it, she won’t be playing it in high school, and, there’s not a whole lot of need for her to play much longer, unless, of course she wants to do it for fun.

“But how can this be?” my subconscious continued to ponder, until my consciousness told me to, “Get over it, she’s almost in high school, she doesn’t need a trophy, juice, and, snacks, anymore.”

We’re “aging out” of some of the activities of childhood that used to feel like they would go on forever. Even though we’ve spent many years going here, there, and, yon, it’s what I’ve grown accustomed to doing, and, part of my identity as a parent.

We won’t be at the soccer field every weekend forever, the birthday party invitations are fewer, and, far between, and, we are close to being able to go somewhere without a babysitter (well, that is until my oldest gets a driver’s license, and, we never see her again).

It’s hard to get used to, but, at the same time, it’s exciting.

There’s many more adventures ahead of us as the they get older, and, besides, we have a 5 year old, and, we’re lucky enough to get to go around again while we are venturing forward.