Remember When?

On the way to work this morning, I listened to an Alan Jackson song that I really like.  It contains beautiful music from a mandolin, but most importantly the words, I think, tell of the importance of making memories, about how life changes, about weathering the obstacles that will certainly present themselves during our lives, and then about looking back and relishing a life well-lived.

Just thinking about these weighty issues seems to dwarf the things that we tend to worry about or concern ourselves with on a normal day - things like making money, what type of car you drive, what we're going to do to entertain ourselves, the next "toy" or gadget on our wish list to occupy our time.

If you have a moment, watch and listen as 'Ol Allen sings.  This is good.  I've also posted the lyrics below.  Just click the red button with the arrow.  I'll warn you, this is sort of an emotional song - at least it is for me...

"Remember When"

Remember when I was young and so were you
and time stood still and love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
We made love and then you cried
Remember when

Remember when we vowed the vows
and walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other's hearts
Remember when

Remember when the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to weekBrought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we'd never give it up
Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookn' back it's just a steppin' stone
To where we are,
Where we've been
Said we'd do it all again
Remember when
Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move awayWe won't be sad, we'll be glad
For all the life we've had
And we'll remember when

Okay.  It's me again.  I guess I'm going through another one of "those times."  I think the thing that spurred it was we're about to send out graduation announcements - again.  Russ will be graduating from high school in less than a month and will be moving off to college this fall, just like Laura Lee did the previous fall.  Although Benjamin will still be with us, our house will be changing.  The empty nest syndrome, I presume?

Change is difficult.  It is tough on old dad (and mom) when the kids grow up and move away.  The house seems to be larger and emptier now that Laura is gone and this will change exponentially when Russ moves out.  I'm not so concerned with the emptiness as I am with the uncertainty of what comes next.  You start second-guessing things.  Did we make enough memories?

Have we forged a close enough relationship where the kids (now young adults) will want us closely involved in their lives?  Will they respect our advice?  The values we've tried to instill?

Will they look back on their childhood and smile, remembering the things that we did, times (good and bad) that we shared?  When we "remember when" will we be able to smile or will we wince with a stabbing pain of regret?

We are far from the perfect family.  We have probably more than our fair share of "warts," but we also have a great love for our kids and I hope they realize that.  We try to communicate that to them everyday.  They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I figure we'll know the answers to a lot of the questions that I've asked in the post above as we watch our family branch out and form families of their own.  In the meantime, we'll continue to try to do our best, pray for our kids and our family, and leave it in God's hands.