The Funny Vortex of Time

I read some of the entries in Alex’s journal I’ve been keeping for him and laughed out loud. In the beginning entries of the journal I found just how incredibly inpatient I was to get past being pregnant and move into being a new mommy. Then within a few days of him being here the tone of that patience was significantly different. Instead of wishing time would speed up I’m begging for it to slow down!

My girlfriend asked me the other day where time goes. I’ve come to the conclusion it goes to the kids. They suck it up and hide it to their advantage. They speed it all up so they can be bigger, faster, stronger, and grown up. It’s nuts how being a mom and what it does to time.

I am in total shock I’m in my thirties. In fact there’s a whole lot of denial going on in my noggin, but that’s another story. Isabelle is growing up even faster than Alex is. She’s 12 and a half years old and seemingly going on sixteen. Next year she’ll turn 13 and officially enters the age of hating her parents. We’ve been bracing ourselves for quite some time for these approaching days.

She’s in the beginning stages of her science fair project. Last year’s project was an adventure of patience. On her part and on ours. She did the classic seeds in dirt test. While the direction she was given was vague, we were forced to figure out what to do for the test. It’s been years since Josh or myself participated in any such thing, so racking our brains for direction proved nearly pointless. The end of the story was she placed 1st in her grade and 4th in her grade on the state level. Pretty good for flying by the seat of our pants.

This year we are going to make every effort to avoid repeating past mistakes. In fact, Isabelle said to me yesterday that she feels a lot more confidant doing her project this year because she, “Knows what she’s doing.” Thank goodness for that! We have the added bonus of having both a computer and printer at our disposal. We didn’t have such luxuries last year. I was forced to resurrect my creative arts to finish up her project last year. We won’t be doing that again...well not in the physical sense. This year: digital!

To be honest, I’m actually looking forward to doing this project with her. I’ve taken a pretty big part in her school activities and it’s fun for both of us...sort of. I believe that education is the responsibility of the student, teacher, and parents. With all parties actively involved, the gaps are filled and successful learning is achieved. That being said, I wouldn’t know what gaps to fill without taking part in her schooling. I’ve recently learned there are quite a few gaps. Disappointing to know just how broken the education system is in this country. Alas, I am the gap filler (with Josh).

The time isn’t far away when my participation will still be valuable to her. I know I fought tooth and nail against my folks when they had my best interest at heart. Teenagers are so dumb. So, I’m taking full advantage of her open minded acceptance of my opinion while it still holds value. That is a ticking time bomb. At least I get to start all over again with Alexander.