Where Does the Time Go?

Six years ago I was waking up as a single woman for the last time.

Butterflies danced in my stomach as I got myself ready and waited for the love of my life to knock one last time on that apartment door before driving us away to the temple and the new life that was waiting.

Six years later and it is hard to remember all the details of that day.

What is even harder is believing that it was actually six years ago that it all happened.

When I think about all that has filled the minutes, hours, days, and weeks that make up the last six years, a flood of emotions overtake me.

I smile, I laugh, I cry, I long to return to some moments and wish to skip right over others.

But when all is said and done I am again reminded how quickly it all goes.

It is the beautiful irony of life: that the hard times pass, but that in turn the good do too. 

 

 

In the beginning it seemed that every waking second of our time was filled to the brim with school, work, or more school.

We were working hard to get into programs, graduate, apply for dental school, and make enough money to live while doing it.

I miss things about those days:

Lazy weekends culminating with laundry Sunday at the Palmer's.

Sitting next to my sweetheart every morning the on the short bus ride to campus.

Aggie baseball and basketball and football games.

Learning to cook and budget and do all the things that married people do.
Sleeping in.

Then we moved to Ohio, and the time went to pursuing dreams and exploring the world.

We learned to live off even less than before while leaning on each other more than ever.

We spent time with new friends, worked first jobs, and realized just how crazy school could be.

Weekends brought adventures like trying out another new restaurant or visiting a new city.

We decided to to have a baby and experience the greatest joy in life, and we began to know grief and sorrow through some of life's greatest struggles.

And now here we are.

The time is now filled with diapers and storybooks and double strollers given as anniversary gifts.

We are busy finishing graduation requirements and searching for the perfect future as we stand looking face to face at what was once just a distant dream.

We have traded weekend getaways to DC or Philadelphia for nights spent snuggling freshly bathed babies, their wet hair tickling our cheeks.

Instead of eating out we mostly eat in, and then smile as little hands help us clean up the mess.

How time moves so quickly I am still not so sure, but I do know where it goes. 

It is found in all the memories we have made together during each moment of the last 2,190 days.

We have spent our time living life, loving deeply, and learning so much along the way.

I can not wait to see where the next hours, weeks, and years will go, too.