I woke up early on Friday morning to the sound of a baby crying. I had slept with the window open and the sound of the babies hungry protestations travelled from another nearby open window. The sound was not an unpleasant noise, in fact it sounded very familiar, it took me back to when my boys were babies and would wake us up early morning for a feed. My boys are 24 and 26 so it has been quite some time since I have heard a baby cry while I was waking. That got me thinking about how time has passed so fast since my boys were babies. It seems like yesterday I was waking in the middle of the night to feed and change them. I can remember the smell of their hair as I cuddled them, the satisfying gurgling noises they made as they were feeding. I can see and hear their joy as we played football and water fights in the garden as they grew. I remember the numbness that me and Lisa felt after we had dropped Jack off at University, travelling back to an empty home for the first time in silence. Then the feelings of pride we both felt at their graduations.
I remember my Mum on my wedding day saying to me that it felt like only yesterday that she was holding me as a baby. I was 26 when I got married, the same age as Ben. I dismissed it as my Mum being overly sentimental, which was a common trait of my Mum. My mum incidentally was 55 when I got married, which is the age I am now, as I sit here snivelling and getting overly sentimental writing about my past. Time as we get older does feel like it is going by quicker. When you have only been on the planet 2 decades, 10 years is half a life time and therefore a long time. 10 years when you are over 50 seems to go by in a blink of an eye.
I am so glad I spent a lot of time with Ben and Jack when they were younger. Whether that was taking them to football, playing in the garden or myself and Lisa volunteering for Scouting. Spending quality time with them was always our priority. Now as I reflect on how fast time has passed I am so grateful we did that. We have so many memories of them growing up. I don’t wish for time to go backward, like my Mum sometimes did but I do enjoy looking back and remember those precious memories we made. Last year we all went on holiday along with Liv, Ben’s partner, in fact this exact time last year, and it was such a precious time to be away with them creating more wonderful memories as a family. In my late teens and twenties life passed me by to greater extent and I did not really pay attention, therefore my memories of events are patchy at best. As a parent I paid attention from the moment they were born right up to them leaving home. That is the most important thing I did.
If you are a young parent, with careers and aspirations it is so important to maintain that balance to make sure you prioritise the most precious elements of your life and that is making the most of time you spend as a family, it doesn’t have to be fancy but it has to be full of love. It is worth the effort. You may be Nurse, Midwife, Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher, etc. The most important role you have is a Parent, so make the most of it, do your best, pay attention and enjoy every precious moment.
Happy Fathers Day!
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