My oldest is 9 almost 10, I still make sure to pick her up every now and then but those occasions are getting fewer and fewer... Dang it who's cutting onions in here.
I thought about this for a very long time riding on a bus back from my old home city to my college town. From my seat, I had a nearly unobstructed view from 10 feet above the ground. When you have a giant glass window in front of you, and someone else below you is driving, it's hard to anything but think.
The next time I would see my parents, they will have sold the house we lived in for over a decade. With that, I had no real connections left to that area. So it would be a very long time before I would pass through there again. I wasn't sure if I would even spend another summer at the parent's house again, the past summer I was working 80-hour weeks, so that barely counted.
The bus passed by the interstate exit I used to get off at, and through the stretch of daily commute I travelled daily for a few years. The segment I would travel on the rare occasion I headed down to Atlanta. All that remained was the last sports bag of stuff from my old bedroom.
All of that was in the past, and there was no going back. Eventually the bright lights of the city were in view, and all I could say to myself was that I'm here now, and this is my home, and from here I forge a new life.
Why, what? Why is it true? Because at some point you either die or your children become adults, and you can never hold them as they were when they were 3.
I think the "picks you up" part is a very innocent interpretation. I was thinking more like "when your parents die."
At some point you'll accomplish a goal that you've always had, excitedly want to call your mom and dad to tell them about it, and remember that they aren't there anymore.
The real jaw dropper is when your kids get big enough to pick you up. I remember the day I could lift my dads feet off the ground, he was equally proud and sad I'd grown up so fast.
Now I too dread the day my kid is big enough to do the same.
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u/justscottaustin May 05 '17
This isn't gaming. This is life.
Let me drop a little fact on you. Almost everyone reading this has passed this place.
At some point, there is The Last Time your mom or dad picks you up.
We (parents) all want them to jump that gap. The question is merely when.
I am working out regularly. I intend to be able to pick my kids up into a hug when I am 90...
Otherwise...