A Holiday

Seven years ago (really? - seven years?) I was sporting my new spring maternity clothes (so ugly!) and showing off my burgeoning belly. I spent my days and my nights dreaming of motherhood, of the baby growing under and inside my heart. For the past seven and a half years it has been a classic love story, mother and son. My sweet, sweet, First Son. Then, almost two years ago I turned him over, quite reluctantly to the big yellow taxi.

Tomorrow, I am taking him back! Well, for the day anyway, and he doesn't even know it. When he wakes up in the morning I will break the news - no school today! I am proclaiming a holiday. First Son & Mommy Day. It will become an annual tradition. First Son will play hooky from school, and we will climb aboard a train and head into the Big Apple! I am so excited! Just he and I, no little brothers or sisters, no pesky teachers, no phone calls, laundry or spilled milk (well, we might spill our milk, but we will make someone else clean it up for sure!) We are going to see a show, and climb the Empire State Building and eat a Gray's Papaya (that's a hot dog, not a tropical fruit).

Seven years ago I couldn't have pictured my life the way it is today. It is busy and it is wonderful, my life is full. I have so much more than just that one baby I was dreaming of, I have four beautiful children. I have a house. I have PTA committees, and catechist responsibilities, I have everything I ever wanted and more. If there is anything at all that I wish I could have more of, it is the ever elusive time. My baby, my babies, are growing up quickly. It is up to me to put my pointer fingers together and stop time. It is up to me to make memories, to teach my kids to stop and smell the roses, or in our case tomorrow, the subways. There will always be a sink full of dishes, and an overgrown garden to tend to, but my children will grow and change before my very eyes and if I don't stop once and awhile I might miss it.

For just a day I will rewind the clock to when it was just me and First Son. I will try to see the world through his eyes. Maybe we will learn something new about each other. For sure we will chat the day away. He will ask me a million questions, and make incredibly keen observations, and probably tug at my heartstrings a bit. Memories will be made.