Mommy Blog

The Final Countdown

in Giggles on May 2, 2023

I was upstairs the other day, rifling through my Christmas Closet (yes, I have a Christmas Closet) and I came across one of my Advent calendars. I have a couple of different ones, this particular one was a box with individual doors that open to reveal a different sweet throughout the twenty-five days leading up to Christmas morning.

It made me smile.

I thought about all of the years my three children would fight and fuss with each other—and me—to determine who started on the first day of Advent, and who ultimately would end up with the treat on Christmas morning. Counting down to Christmas was a big deal in our house. I imagine that particular countdown is a big deal in a great many houses.

As per my usual, my mind started to spin around other things we deem important enough to incite their own countdowns. I came up with quite a few:

1. Birthdays—as kids, and I even know a few adults, we started our countdown to birthdays about six months in advance. Adding the “and a half” to whatever age you currently were, was a big deal.

2. Midnight, New Year’s Eve. I personally, do not often participate in this individual countdown. Most of you know that I am a big fan of an early bedtime, and my way of thinking is simple and straightforward; the New Year will still arrive, even if I go to bed at 8:30!

3. Vacations. We ALL get excited for a vacation. In this category, age is completely irrelevant. An impending vacation turns even the most stoic adults into five-year-olds.

4. The last few seconds on the microwave. This has never been more true, than when you feel as though you may starve to death in the remaining four seconds on the timer.

There are several more note-worthy countdowns I could mention, but the one that is absolutely all-consuming in my world today is my oldest son’s upcoming wedding.

We are officially THIRTY DAYS OUT from the Big Day.

Even now, as I type this, I am surrounded by wedding paraphernalia; including, but not limited to RSVP cards, guest lists, seating arrangements, confirmation print-outs from vendors, catering contracts, and family travel itineraries.

In a mere thirty days, he will no longer be my baby boy. In thirty days, he will walk me to my seat, where I will watch him transition from my little man, to her man. In thirty days, the memories of bad dreams and middle-of-the-night drinks of water will slip just a little further into the past. In thirty days, I will watch him take his second first steps; but this time, instead of an unsteady and apprehensive toddler grasping at my hand, he will move with secure confidence—holding firmly to the hand of his bride, as they march out into the world.

The Final Countdown.

This is it. This is what my husband and I have been preparing for since the day Ethan was born. We knew from the beginning that he was only “on loan” to us. It was our job to love him, teach him, raise him up to be confident, self-reliant, and a productive member of society. We knew that one day, he would start his own cycle.

We just didn’t know how hard it would be to watch.

As a mother, I am incredibly blessed, proud and grateful of the choices he has made. I know with everything in me, he will be an excellent husband. He and Adeline are like two puzzle pieces in a great masterpiece. Even though this countdown makes my heart ache with goodbyes, it also brings joy and excitement for whatever the next countdown will bring.

T minus thirty…and counting.