Tone Parsons

Time has surely gone by quickly.

Not very long ago, I was changing diapers, making lunches, and buying stuffed animals. I sang silly songs to the boys at bed time and even sillier ones in the morning to make them wake up (while bouncing on their beds and tickling them). I bathed them, dressed them, and read to them.

I carried them when they were tired, held them when they were sad, laughed with them when they were happy. I taught them to use the toilet, ride a bike, use a computer, and mow the lawn.

I took them to their first day of school and picked them up afterward. I watched them learn to read, discover mathematics, find themselves, discover girls, and learn to drive a car.

I have memories, lots of them.

When one of my son’s favorite stuffed animal was damaged (it was a 101 Dalmatian and it’s head came off). I picked up the head and started singing the chorus from the song Just a Gigolo

“Mumbaly bibbaly zeebaly boobaly hummaly baybaly zeebaly bop.
I ain’t got nobody, nobody, nobody cares for me
Nobody, nobody.
I’m so sad and lonely, sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won’t some sweet mama come and take a chance with me?
Cause I ain’t so bad.”

Of course, I sang “nobody” as “no body” at the top of my lungs until he started to giggle, then I sewed the head back on.

Then there was the time we took the training wheels off the bicycle and my son wiped out immediately. He ran into the house and said he’d never ride it again. Ten minutes later, he was cruising through the neighborhood like a pro.

My youngest was Batman for nearly a year. Every morning he put on his hooded cape and ran around saving the world and battling evil-doers until dusk where would suddenly wind down and returned to his “bat cave” for the night.

We went on vacations and played on the beach, or in the forest, or flew kites and had bonfires and ate roasted marshmallows.

And now I see that all of this is quickly coming to an end.

Today, I took my youngest son to the high school so they could give him a tour and help him change his schedule for the school year (which starts next Tuesday). My eldest will graduate in the spring and head to a 4 year college in the fall.

They will be soon be gone, having families of their own, and repeating the cycle.

Where did all the time go?