Crawling, First Grade, College, and More Crawling...

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed since my last post. Lately it feels as if we are simply passengers on the Bullet Train of life, watching everything zip by. Maddie started first grade at the end of last month. My baby is in first grade! When she started kindergarten it was heart-wrenching. She had become a full-fledged kid, running down the hallway at school into the open arms of her teacher (whom we LOOOOOOVED!!!!) It was both sad and exciting to see her grow up. Fast forward to first grade and the excitement is palpable: my child is going to be in school ALL DAY LONG! The world is my oyster, I now have six hours to get stuff done! Ya-hoo!!! That excitement is dampened somewhat by the fact that I have a very busy seven-month-old who seems to be magnetically attracted to anything that is off-limits (consequently, once it is in his possession the item inevitably makes its way into his mouth.)

Now that Luke is crawling and getting into who knows what and Maddie's school load has quadrupled, I figured this was the perfect time to spread myself even thinner and try to wrap up that bachelor's degree I began eons ago. In my defense I took a break after my grandpa passed away, got pregnant, and then changed my major (as a result I had to do almost all of my upperdivision over.) Plus squeezing in college between Maddie and work was its own unique challenge. So here we are... I am taking a geology class online, geology lab, and a photo class for fun. And by-the-way, can I tell you how OLD I feel going to school with a bunch of baby-faced kids fresh out of high school? We were discussing the effects of earthquakes/plate tectonics in my geology lab when I looked around and had what Oprah calls an "a-ha moment". These kids were not even a zygote when we had had the last "big one" (Loma Prieda, 1989). UGH!!! At thirty-two I don't feel old, but to these kids I am. Their biggest worry is whether that cute boy in biology will text or MySpace them, meanwhile I'm at home trying to dust off my algebra skills (circa 1997) for a geology equation while simultaneously prying an electrical cord from my son's mouth. But with age comes wisdom and a confidence that I did not have my first time in college. And with that age and wisdom comes a, I guess you would call it, smugness. Life has taught me all kinds of lessons that they have yet to learn. I now know that while getting your heart broken may seem like the end of the world, it really isn't. Having children will teach you a love you never knew existed and that miracles really do exist. Being married is soooo much better than dating. Life won't wait for you, so make the most of it while you're here. While I do miss the carefree days of my youth, I certainly wouldn't trade it for what I have now.