Well, we survived our move.  Today’s post was written at my desk, looking out an upstairs window into my new front yard.  Life is good.  And yes, I still have this:

Today is the first day of school for many of you.  A shift in routine from the lazy, hazy days of Summer.  Back to alarm clocks and getting-out-the-door and packing lunches.  It’s back to routine for us at Burlington Sports & Spine Clinic too.  Regular hours for practitioners and staff and regular schedules for patient appointments. Give us a call at 289-351-0301 to get back on track with your treatments.

My six-year-old son starts Grade One today, so there’s a subtle turning of the page in my house (and a whole lotta tears; all mine, not his).  It’s caused me to be very reflective on how exponentially fast the past six years have gone.  It was not that long ago I brought him home and held him in my I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing arms, and here I go, dropping him off to Grade 1.  So to all of the new parents with young children, not yet involved the back-to-school rush, who are feeling like the days are long but the moments are short, have a read, cuz this one is for you:

The Last Time
~Author Unknown

From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,
you will never be the same.
You might long for the person you were before,
When you had freedom and time,
And nothing in particular to worry about.
You will know tiredness like you never knew it before,
And days will run into days that are exactly the same,
Full of feeding and burping,
Whining and fighting,
Naps, or lack of naps. It might seem like a never-ending cycle.

But don’t forget…
There is a last time for everything.

There will come a time when you will feed your baby
for the very last time.
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.
One day you will carry them on your hip,
then set them down,
And never pick them up that way again.
You will scrub their hair in the bath one night
And from that day on they will want to bathe alone.
They will hold your hand to cross the road,
Then never reach for it again.
They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles,
And it will be the last night you ever wake for this.
One afternoon you will sing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’
and do all the actions,
Then you’ll never sing that song again.
They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate,
the next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone.
You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your
last dirty face.
They will one day run to you with arms raised,
for the very last time.

The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
until there are no more times, and even then,
it will take you a while to realize.

So while you are living in these times,
remember there are only so many of them and
when they are gone,
you will yearn for just one more day of them

For one last time.