Girl Growing Up: Don't Blink

I'm going to start the post with the obligatory "Happy Mother's Day" mush, because 1. it's necessary, and 2. it leads into today's challenge topic. I realized today that Mother's Day at our house is a bit of a catch 22. See, my mom is the most selfless person I know (hence, she needs to be celebrated), which makes the whole day hard to do. She hates being the center of attention, she doesn't ever want anything (or so she says), and she doesn't like being pampered. Thankfully, I convinced her that pampering was necessary, since she has a nail salon gift card that expires tomorrow and we both have holidays (my 21st birthday is Saturday!) this week. Mani-pedis tomorrow it is!

My dad also surprised her with tickets to go see The Lion King this fall, and I created another ABC book! My mom is a creative person, and she loves taking pictures of the people she loves, so I knew she would appreciate my efforts! Although I didn't quite finish the book before I gave it to her, she still gushed about it, which is why she's the best mom in the world, end of story.

I love you, Mom!

Part of my mom's awesomeness can probably be attributed to my grandparents' awesomeness. My grandma and grandpa worked hard making a graduation slideshow for me when I graduated from high school, and now it's Corey's turn! Corey's show has over 1,000 pictures (literally, I had to ask, because yeah, that's ridiculous), and he's got to have some music going on in the background to accompany all those photos. Corey was struggling to come up with a lot of songs, so I helped out yesterday.

One of the songs I found while perusing my iTunes was "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney. This song reminds us how short life is, and when I read today's challenge topic, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. The question is: what do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)

I miss being young and as naive as I could possibly be. Every time I hear "Don't Blink", it gives me some sort of shiver or chill in the chorus. Here it is:

Don't blink, 'cause just like that, you're six years old, and you take a nap,
And you, wake up and you're twenty-five, and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don't blink, you just might miss your babies grow up like I did,
Turning into moms and dads, next thing you know, your better half
Of fifty years is there in bed, and you're praying God takes you instead.
Trust me man, a hundred years go faster than you think, so don't blink.

Wait... How did that happen?!

The idea of blinking and going from six to twenty-five is terrifying to me right now, and I think it's because it resonates with where I am in life right now. Although there's no way I would trade places with an elementary-schooler right now ( I love where I am in life- also I hated taking naps), there moments that I miss the simplicity of the good ol' days. I didn't worry about who I needed to text or email back, what paper I needed to write, or what the heck I wanted to do with my future. You know how if a little kid is upset, they act like their world is crumbling around them, with the raw emotion painted on their face? I love that, because it means when they're happy, even about the littlest thing, they are happiest person in the world, bar none.

"Oh, everyone, you shouldn't have... Oh wait, yes you should have, it's my BIRTHDAY!"

That might be why I want to teach younger children. They're less... jaded. They aren't too worried about what other people think of who they are, and there is something so pure about an honest and unaffected child. I love possessing the ability to talk about current events, and I love having knowledge about more than just my backyard, but that doesn't mean that I never long for the obliviousness that was me back in the day. Every day was a new adventure; my mom had a new craft for us to make, my dad had a song to sing as he carried me up the stairs (from The Wizard of Oz, "Oh-ee-oh, yooo!)...