My youngest son….my Avery….turns 7 tomorrow.  It’s his golden birthday and he cannot wait.  Just seeing the excitement in his eyes makes me feel like a kid again.  He could hardly wait to go to bed tonight because the anticipation of his big day was just too much.  I’m sure many of you can relate to that feeling…it’s like going to bed on Christmas Eve and lying there as still as can be…just hoping to hear hooves on the roof top.  I still get those butterflies in my stomach when I go to bed on Christmas Eve…and my children get that same feeling when it’s the night before their birthday.  

 Honestly, I am overwhelmed whenever one of my children has another birthday.  It is always a bittersweet day for me.  While I am so grateful that the good Lord has blessed us with another year together, I also know that they are one more year closer to being an adult…to moving out and on with their life.  I want to cling to them like crazy glue and hold onto them for dear life.  I want to stop the hands of time and just love them at this age forever.

Avery must have sensed my melancholy this evening because he came over to me while I was sitting on the couch and without a word; he reached out his precious little hand for mine.  He took my thumb and started rubbing the top of my nail like he always used to do as a toddler.  He looked up at me and said, “See mom, I still like to do this”….and so began the water works!

Regardless of my reluctance to move forward the hands of time, I know that with each new year comes a new and exciting stage in our lives together.  There are new experiences to be had that only come with time and the rite of passage from one year to the next.  There are precious memories to create so that next year…on this same night…I can look back at my son’s seventh year of life with warmth in my heart and wonder where the time has gone.

 And without fail, I will do as I do every year on the night before their big day…as I did tonight with Avery….

I will tuck them in a little tighter…I will say prayers with them a little slower….and I will wipe away the tears from my eyes when I say goodnight to my little 6 year old…and look forward to saying good morning to my big 7 year old!