dearbaby:

I distinctly remember the days of running over and pouncing on one of my parents to initiate a game of play wrestling when I was a kid. I remember how much fun it was to be lifted high above my mother, the balls of her feet balancing my small body. Or my dad, carrying me under one arm, my brother under the other as he growled and stomped through the house with both of us twisting and laughing in his arms.

There is a warm and familiar juxtaposition in layering those memories on top of the ones we are making as a family. Such deja vu to be on hands and knees, hair across my face, with a chorus of children’s laughter accompanying our play. Two little people flopped across my body, screeching with joy as I bounce one, then the other in the space above me.

Becoming a parent has made me realize how much thought and effort my parents put into ensuring my childhood was full of happy moments. It is the span of each those experiences that has built who I am.

What a gift that Brent and I get to build the foundations of our children as people- that we get to put shiney, gold penny moments in their memory banks. That we have the power to create the kind of moments they will recall one day as adults with great fondness.

One of my favorite things about parenting is that, in so many ways, we get our childhood back. We are handed the opportunity to relive and experience it all over again with a heightened awareness for what makes it precious. I’m absolutely certain that these moments with my children are the closest thing I’ll ever have to a fountain of youth.

Love,

M