Time Flies

This week my cousin and her kids are visiting and I'm reminded of how fast time flies. I have briefly seen them a few times since they moved across the country several years ago but you don't realize how fast time really does slip away until you are faced with the reality that your nephew who was a little boy when they left now is a 15 year old young man who now is taller than you and his little sister is now 7 and asks you to play with her. I kept thinking that he just needs to stay the same and not be thinking about college (which he already is). It's just crazy. I remember thinking in college at a family reunion that I had started to be an adult because instead of playing I was listening to the them sharing stories of growing up and I could actually relate to what they were talking about. I think this past weekend I had that with both my cousins and my nephew. At least there are memories that we can talk about when we are older. With my nephew  even though I don't want him to grow up, I'm looking forward to it because not only will we see what an great man he will turn out to be but I can now start having good, real-life conversations with him. 

Maybe I'm thinking this because this weekend for three different friends, their lives are changing- as in big life moments. They either got engaged or are having a baby. Those are the big life moments we seem to reach as we get older but then I realize that the great joy of having those life moments is the long (or short) journeys we take from one mountain top to another. Life is a journey down the path of life but sometimes there's a climb involved or a risk to be taken- adopting, getting married, having children, moving, changing jobs,  making the decision to walk away from the farm or ranch or at least change the way it's been going, or what ever the big thing is that we are experiencing now.Sometimes the big moments are always happy, sometimes they really suck.  All I know is sometimes it takes risk to ask the question, step out on faith,  entrust what is most important to us to another person, or just keep moving forward because what seems to be a hard or difficult time will come to an end. 

While I have the calmness of not having any huge moments in my life at this time, I think I should be contemplating what I have been learning the past few years because eventually I'll have a big moment and I don't want it to overshadow the small things I've experienced or learned.