Back In Time

This weekend my son, Chris and family, came to visit and do the Green Bluff Harvest Loop. There are so many farms to visit and fun things to do. One of the farms had a Petting Zoo. As Chris was showing Elliott how to feed the animals, I snapped this photo, not only on my camera but in my mind!

The year was somewhere around 1972 and my son Sandor was about Elliott's age. We had gone for a weekend trip to Natureland in New Hampshire to show him some critters. It is always more fun when you are showing things to your child. Somehow, it brings out your inner child no matter your age!

Darrel, his Dad, had bent down to show Sandor how to feed the goats. Darrel was much younger than Chris is now but the setting of the little corral, Dad and child and the slightly thinning hairline sent me back to 1972 bringing tears to my eyes!

It is that old feeling of Deja vu that all of us have now and again. A sight, a smell, something you hear or taste sends your mind tumbling through the years to another time and place, perhaps to a time when life was new. At 62, I was taken back to my early 20's, a young mother with all those years left to live. The tears were of joy and sadness. The joy of seeing my son Chris become such a wonderful father and the sadness of knowing that children grow up all too quickly.

The total dependency and pure love that a child and parent have disappears all too quickly. They learn to walk and talk and reason for themselves. The constant hugs and cuddles give way to curfews and a tug of war over their independence. If you are lucky, you hope to become a friend, which eases the transition a bit but that magic of childhood is lost forever...until you become a grandparent!

The Lord blesses us with those fleeting moments of hugs and cuddles and relieves us of the duties of  full time parenting. We can once again feel that pure love as a grandchild snuggles up close and says, "Nana, I love you more!" That is, of course, impossible because your love started many years before they were even born with their Mom or Dad, your very first cuddlers!