I’m not sure where this came from. I found it among some notes and writing fragments. If someone can help me source it, I would love to add a citation. For now, it stands as a tribute to those who have gone before, and a nod to those yet to come…
First you can’t wait to grow up so you can move out. Then you move out and discover you have to grow up.
Then you can’t wait to be a couple so you can start a family, and suddenly you yearn for the days you did things your own way, without a thought.
Then you can’t wait to start a pregnancy, and suddenly realize how long and frightening nine months of mutation really is.
Then you can’t wait for labor to begin, after which everybody tells you that the labor is just beginning.
Then you can’t wait for them to crawl, when you realize how much more danger there is ‘there’ than where you put them down.
Then you can’t wait for them to walk, when you discover how much harder they can fall.
Then you can't wait for them to talk. Then you wish they'd just be quiet for one cotton-pickin' second. Then you wish they'd talk to you at all. Then you wish they'd talk to you about anything other than themselves. Then they start to make sense, and you suddenly realize they will soon know more than you do. (They, of course, have been convinced of this for years.)
Then you can’t wait for them to start school, and you suddenly realize all the new words and ideas they are exposed to.
Then you wish they would play at a friend’s house, and suddenly realize how little you know about the friend’s family.
Then you start to look forward to them going to college. And you suddenly realize they are thinking about going OFF to college. And you realize how much it costs. And how much help they need with applications and interviews.
Then you wish they would keep you in the loop about their activities...until they start telling you about what they are planning to do this weekend and how much travel it entails.
Then you wish they would get a job. And you suddenly find yourself a long-range career counsellor, and realize you can’t explain what they do to your friends.
Then you wish they would find a life partner and settle down. Then they settle down - 22 traveling hours away.
Then you wish they would buy a house. Then you find that you are expected to fix the plumbing long distance.
Then you can’t wait to become a grandparent. And, finally, it all works out...