The Way We Were

There’s an old saying in parenting that goes like this: the days are long, but the years are short. 

And it’s true.  As I look through old family photos, I can hardly remember my children as itty-bitty babies. My memories of even the most memorable of vacations is hazy, and of course the ebbs and flows of day-to-day life is a total blur.  I look back at old photos and I hardly remember them being that…little.  Babies don’t keep and the years go by so very fast.

But 2020 was different.   In 2020, the days were long, and the year was long. Time slowed down.  It was challenging, for sure, but the rearview mirror in my mind is already rounding off the rough edges. We pressed pause on the frenetic pace of our typical work, travel, sports, school and social schedules. Because of all the time together, my children at these exact ages (2, 5 and 8) will be deeply etched in my memory.  These ages that typically go by in a blink and are filed away with all the other blurry recollections of their childhood days, will contain more color. In 2020, time slowed down which somehow slowed down the growing up. Silver lining, for sure.