I write this on the same day as our family acquires a second teenager. Of course we haven’t just nipped down to the local workhouse and coughed up for a little urchin in the the style of some fairy tale Dickens-esk novel, no, our second born has reach the tender age of 13.
When her elder sister reached this age little over a year ago I didn’t feel the same gut-wrenching despair of time slipping away as I do this time around. That’s not to say there is an imbalance of love distribution between the children – I love all our girls in equal measure, but there is something different this time around.
I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I think it’s because now that our two older girls are both teenagers the sense of our family growing up feels ever more real. There is a gap now before the next one matures to her teenage years – four to be exact – but thinking about than makes me realise how soon that could come around. Reaching this point with the older girls seems to feel a little like a downward slope now where time will rush past us like the air on a roller-coaster.
We need to slow down and enjoy having these girls some more. Just lately, especially in term time, life is so full of school, dance classes, and then us working that real quality time as a family is very rare. Add into that mix that teenagers seem to shrink back into enjoying a solitary existence means that getting this time together can be as elusive as trapping a pink unicorn.
I’m trying not to be a negative Nelly about life moving on and the kids growing up. But time does seem to be flying by and I don’t like it. They wont’ stay little forever and it times to enjoy them being little and make even more memories.
So for now, Happy 13th Birthday GG! You are going to be a great teenager; one that I know will love us and test us in equal measure and that’s just the way we love you.