Does time speed up as we get older? 

In school, time practically stood still while staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring. 
I remember it feeling like eternity had passed before I was old enough to get my license. 
Then… 
I had to wait another eternity to turn 18 and become an adult (what a joke that was). 
Let’s not forget turning 21 (an even bigger joke). 

Got married at 26. 
Had my oldest at 28. 
My youngest at 30. 

Something happened after that though — time somehow started to speed up. 

In a little over a week, I will be the ultra proud owner of a 14-year-old (by owner, I mean, parent — obviously!)

How can this be? 
How can he be 14?
How can he be going into high school next year?
How can he be only two years away from getting his license?
Only six away from becoming an adult?

His years feel like weeks to me. 
Just a few ‘weeks’ ago, I was signing him up for elementary school. 
A ‘week’ before that — preschool. 
Before that — he was learning to talk. 
Use the big boy potty. 
Walk. 
Stand. 
Crawl. 
Eat solid food. 
Sit up. 
You get what I’m saying. 

Now he is staying up late.
Playing video games with his friends. 
Cooking dinner for himself.
Stands two inches taller than me.
Complains about having to wait so long to get his license. 

It’s only two more years Bro — slow your roll! 

An eternity to him — a blink of an eye to me. 

I try to empathize with him — remembering how ready I was for the next thing. 
The next milestone. 
The next cornerstone to build on. 

When I turned 18, my Mom wrote a note in my birthday card about not having to be in such a rush to move out. Not to be in such a hurry to become an adult. 
What did she know? 
I was ready!! 
I had waited my entire life for that moment. 

To move out and be an adult (again, what a joke). 
Work and become successful. 
Have my own place. 
Get married. 
Travel the world. 
All the things adults do. 

Adults don’t have to stress about homework, high school drama, or having a curfew. So I did, like always, dismissed my Mom’s advice and signed up for adulthood as quickly as I could.
Not knowing that I was signing away the very freedom I was looking for.
Not knowing the clock would start to tick gradually a little faster every year. 
Plunging myself into a world I knew nothing about (even though I knew everything — obviously). 

Time warped somehow and here I am — 
In my 40s. 
Mom. 
Divorcée.
Homeowner. 
Part-time employee. 
Self-employor.
Amateur-hour blogger. 
Watching the days fly by. 

I made it! This is what I was rushing through life for! 

Now — 
If time could just stay still. 
If I could just stay in these moments with my boys. 
I would want for nothing else.