Where has all the time gone?+

I've spent a lot of time lately reflecting on where my life is going. I seem to have hit "middle age' with all the feelings that go along with it. I'm finding myself with a son who is almost ready to leave me for two years to serve a mission for our church. That is a good thing, right?? Then why do I have such mixed emotions about it? Maybe if I didn't like him so much, it would be easier to let him go, but I truly adore this kid. He is funny and nice and has a great personality. I know the people he will touch on his mission will love him; he's easy to love. I just know I am going to miss him so much, but I also know it is time to turn him over to the Lord for a little while. It will be bittersweet to watch him go. Then there is his sister who will be going to college in the spring, probably way far away from us. She is going to visit a friend in Utah for a month around Thanksgiving time. I will look at it as a practice run for me to have her gone. Heck, she was gone to Girls' Camp for a week and it felt like she was gone forever. Maybe I'm just not willing to let them grow up. Nobody told me it would be this hard. It is so neat to watch them grow and become such awesome adults, but sometimes I just want my babies back. :( I'll still have the two younger ones at home, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them without their older siblings around. I'm still in the middle of "Tom and Deb's Excellent Adventure", so I'll take the good with the (sorta) bad. Overall, I have a wonderful life and have been very blessed over the years with a great familly and great friends...Lucky Me!!