I am not looking forward to the arrival of summer. Last week I was thinking about the coming of March. In the dance studio world, the approaching spring means that there is a lot that is about to happen. Tryouts, costumes, recital tickets, registration, recital performances, etc etc etc. Since we are in the middle of our SEVENTEENTH year at DancEd (how is that possible???), we know that we will work hard to get through all of those things and then, all of a sudden , one day it will be summer. Sweet!!!
That's the way it has always been, but in thinking about this the other day I realized that I am not looking forward to summertime at all. In fact, I'm kind of dreading it.
Beginning this summer I will have no more children in elementary school. An 8th grader and a 6th grader. It is all happening too fast. I can't speak for anyone else' kids, but suddenly mine seem to be changing before my eyes. I find myself wanting to both freeze time and keep them as young as possible and at the same time help them grow up into self assured, confident young adults. I honestly think the dancing is good to help them with the self confidence part, as are some of the other activities they do. Remembering them for the beautiful young toddlers that they once were is apparently something I have to do on my own. They want to push through the past and grow up right now, while I like to hold on to those fantastic moments of time that all too quickly become a distant memory. If I'm lucky a moment might become a photograph or maybe a video, but every time I look at my kids as they were in a picture or a home movie I wonder how much I have forgotten.
I guess this is one reason parenting is difficult. The amount of time that we seemingly are on the same page as our children is very short. Then they get busy growing up and without some real effort parenting can easily become a spectator sport. Not for my kids. I'll be busy holding on to each and every day, whether they want me to or not. I hope you feel the same way.
