Friday Five: The Looking Back Edition

I"m in a retrospective mood today. Has nothing to do with my kid going to Austin today for his first college visit or anything. Nothing at all.  Certainly has nothing to do with my best friend packing up her daughter and moving her into a dorm room down at our alma mater. Nope. Not one thing...

But we have had some milestones around here lately, and reminders that time marches on, and we can't fight it, but it really works best when we embrace it and grab life and make the most of every day we have. Not to go all Green Day on you or anything, but, yeah...

So, here are five things that I'm thinking about today, on the last Friday before my Elder Child starts his senior year of high school:

1.  How is my kid old enough to be a senior?? Even as he is driving now, and narrowing down his choice of colleges and majors and the directions his life is going to take, I remember him like this:

Such a tiny little bundle of SCREAMY in a quiet moment with Grandma.  

He will always and forever be this tiny little stubborn boy, so determined to do what he wanted to do, as he wanted to do it, no matter what, even when he was three days old and brought me to tears because he would not stop crying. When did this happen? 

He's this brawny man-child now. Driving. Being all nearly adult and stuff.... 

2. We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary last week. It actually fell on a Monday night, and the weekend before it was full of movie night with the boys, early Saturday kids' activities and a Ranger game, which, if you know me at all, is about the perfect way for me to celebrate any important occasion. We got to see the Rangers in their 1970s powder blue throwback unis, and see the All-Time Rangers team in a pre-game ceremony.  Much fun was had the whole weekend, with the exception of my favorite Ranger being put on the DL. 

Mmmm, powder blues.... Yes, please! 

On the day of our actual anniversary, we intended to drop the boys off at their Scout meeting and have a nice little ice cream date, but instead got sidetracked talking for a friend outside the meeting for an hour. Oops. Our anniversary ice cream date ended up being fro-yo for four with the boys. Ah, well, that was good too. Not to worry, the boys had a three-day campout, so we got to enjoy lots of kidlet-activity-free time over the weekend, sleep late, and drag out our anniversary par-tay. The perks of having both boys in the same Scout troop at last!! And the great thing about being married for so long is that a long weekend of hanging out watching baseball and old movies, occasionally emerging for burgers and a friend's sombrero party, well, that was just about the perfect way for us to celebrate! 

March 1989, I think? I don't think my glasses are quite ROUND enough... 

3. On the same day as our anniversary, this kid started Junior High. Sixth grade. Dang. That's almost as tough to take as the other one being a senior! 

Running along the beach in Venice, CA. I think he was just about two. 

This kid. Ah. So different from the other one, in so many ways. Growing into a tween now, asking for a cell phone, spending hours online playing video games, having his own very specific opinions on nearly everything. He's a joy. Will be so interesting to see how his personality develops in the next few years. He definitely keeps me on my toes, this one! 

Two-strapping the backpack. haha!

4. Being back in DC and seeing my friend Rebecca made me all nostalgic for the Marine Corps Marathon. I wish I still had access to my blog from back then. I remember having a couple of battles leading up to that marathon. I had done White Rock the year before, so I knew I could handle the distance. But there is always that wonder in the back of your mind of whether you can truly do it again. Maybe the first one was a fluke, and I got really lucky. Maybe the weather will suck. Maybe I will fall (a distinct possibility for me...). But there were a lot more nerves and worry going into this one, and I would love to be able to go back and revisit those thoughts. I bet a lot of t hem would apply to me again, as I work back toward being the kind of runner I want to be, the kind of runner I know I can be. Ah, I guess I will have to look at the pictures and just enjoy those instead. And hope I can remember to try to capture some of the same shots when I go back next year! 

5. Ok, enough with the looking back for today. How about we look forward?  Not too far - just about 24 hours. Because in that time, I will be well on my way to my first 50-mile bicycle ride!! YEE-HAW!!! I'm excited and askerid and pumped to spend the day with some great Frunners on Bicycles. It's going to be a total chaos scene - one of the largest sanctioned century bike ride in the country. Last year there were 14,000 riders. That's a lot of wheels. Should be good times, though. And I'm pretty sure there will be pictures later. 

This was awesome. This weekend promises to be just as great. Stay tuned.