With
two teenage boys in the house, there are many things that are “so close.” The
first are these clothes on the floor.
One son needed his work uniform washed. He got so close to placing them IN the washing machine. But, nope, they are on the floor. Seriously, just a little more umph in his toss and they would be in the machine.
Then,
there are these glasses. As in the funny video, they are so close to making it IN the dishwasher. It
is only one step away. Why didn’t they just put them in the dishwasher
instead of leaving them on the counter?
As
another school year ends, I realized our sons are so close to graduating. Two our our chicks have already left our nest, and we know how fast these last
few years will fly by. We are so close to finishing our parenting
season. It has been long, almost 28 years, with two more to go. As Gretchen Rubin says
in her book, The Happiness Project, “the days are long, but the years are
short.” Some days have been long. Some mornings trying to get them ready for
school have been long. Some nights trying to get them to bed have been long,
both the toddler nights and the teenage nights. Looooong.
But,
the years have flown by, and we are so close to being empty nesters, assuming
both graduate from high school and actually leave the nest.
They
are so close to becoming young adults. They are so close to making it through
12 years of school, which has had it’s share of difficult years. They are so
close to getting their driver’s license and driving without a panicked parent,
gripping the dashboard sitting next to them.
I
know these last few years with them are just as important as the first few.
They are becoming young men. They don’t need their Mom as much as they did when
they were little, and it is a balancing act for me as to how much to let them
go, and how much to reel them in. But, I want to finish well. I want to savor
these last few years. Very soon, there will not be any late night/early morning
conversations in the kitchen like this one:
12:30am
Jeremiah:
Don’t forget your night job, Josiah, as a bungalow.
Me:
What?
Jeremiah:
You know, a bungalow.
Josiah:
That’s not what it is. The word is jungle-low.
Me:
Ummm, do you mean gigolo?
It is hard to trash talk
your brother when you don’t have the right words!
Aside
from the bungalows, these tall, lanky teenage boys are so close to becoming adults. I am grateful that, even though my parenting season is so close to
ending, I know their Heavenly Father is not finished with them.
I
trust that He is faithful and will complete the work He has started in them.
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within
you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ
Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6
