My new year is off to a really good start. We are five days into the new year, and things are going great at work and with my birds. On a social front, I have plans tonight with K and in less than two weeks, I am going with a group of awesome gals to a wine tasting dinner. My social goal in 2017 is to take the time to make plans with the friends that I care about one night each week. I am terrible about never making plans to do anything and hanging out with the same group of bar friends at the last minute when I do actually go out. The net result is redundancy in never meeting anyone new and lost opportunity to spend time with my amazing friends.
On a kid front, I can’t stop thinking about one thing – this is the year that Brainy Bird starts high school. How can this be already? In September, off he goes to his freshman year. He will be just four years away from college. Where did all of the time go? I find myself bribing him with nice dinners or his choice of what to cook at home if he will chill out with me instead of running with his buddies on Friday nights. Of course, I always encourage him to be social and spend time with his friends, but I also treasure the time that I spend with him.
We were talking about the fact that he goes off to college in just four years, and Little Chirp said what I was thinking, “What? How can he go away? What will I do?”
I can’t imagine our little family unit with out Brainy Bird there every day. I looked at Little Chirp, and I said, “Awe, sweetheart, you love your brother don’t you?”
Little Chirp was then embarrassed by his omission that he is super attached to the boy that he spends so much of his day trying to antagonize, and Little Chirp covered with, “Yeah, who am I going to tattle on if he isn’t here?”
We all laughed. As I sit here and think about how quickly my birds are growing up, it occurs to me that every year for the next decade we hit a major life milestone in their childhoods:
2017 – Brainy Bird starts high school
2018 – Little Chirp starts intermediate school and Brainy Bird gets his learner’s permit
2019 – Brainy Bird gets his drivers license
2020 – Little Chirp goes to junior high
2021 – Brainy Bird graduates high school and starts college
2022 – Little Chirp starts high school
2023 – Little Chirp gets his learner’s permit
2024 – Little Chirp get his driver’s license
2025 – Brainy Bird graduates college
2026 – Little Chirp graduates high school and starts college
I am beyond proud of my birds as I watch them spread their wings and grow into confident young men, but I will forever miss the days of preschool and their little lives revolving around their mommy. I know that the year that Little Chirp is in eighth grade and Brainy Bird is off to college is going to be a difficult year for me and the little guy. All we can do is hold on tight and cherish the next four years that we have all together under one roof. If that means indulging Brainy Bird with a steak from time to time, I shall do so shamelessly.
May God always bless Little Chirp and Brainy Bird.