There is something about an hour that completely blows my mind. One Minute I glance at the Clock and see that it registers 6am and the next it is suddenly 7! In that hour I have maybe washed some dishes, made the bed, poked my head in some rooms to quietly wake sleepy heads, and sipped hot coffee from my usual mug. Boom, an hour of my life has passed. Raising kids is like that. You glance at their sweet, tiny baby hands and ponder the miracle that this child is yours to love, and the next minute that hand is reaching out for the car keys to drive off WITHOUT A CAR SEAT OR BUBBLE WRAP. (I swear to God, Chris, we can’t use it anymore and holy hell that is terrifying). The world can now break our children and we can’t use our bodies as a personal shields for them anymore. We can’t hurl our arm out when we slam on the breaks to keep them safe and sound. Tick, tock, the clock keeps ticking. Seconds, minutes, hours turn to days, years and it won’t stop. They move from Monster High school dolls to girls that are monsters in high school. All that is needed is a well tuned ear to listen and agree. Awesome dumb pretty much sums up the high school social scene. They graduate from college and struggle with dreams crushed; the need to make a plan C, D and E because fate threw a curveball and retinas are not supposed to be cone shaped. They move far from home. Across the country to the land of sunshine and the reality that Christmas may not include the entire family anymore. The last boy graduates from high school and you breath a sigh of relief when he decides not to go to college all the way in Hawaii. But you know the clock is ticking and he will move away sooner than later. 4 3 2 And then baby makes 1. One lone child in the nest and that freaking clock tick tocking loudly in my ears, reminding me that 3 years is but an hour in mom years. **funny note. Bill likes the damn clock. He is ready to have me to himself again after sharing the majority of my time with the kids for 25 years. Dads are all smiles…”Love you…Buh bye” when the kids fly the coop.