Silent Spring

It has been quiet around Trouble's Tribune this spring. Like everything you enjoy, the time comes where you need a break. A few days off; maybe a week. Time to regroup, refresh. Then weeks turned to months and you started avoiding coming here, much like avoiding someone that you made a promise to that you still haven't gotten around to fulfilling. And yet, the only person promised anything was you and hence you are the only one cheated as well. Finally you came back to have a look, a trip down memory lane, and were reminded of the reason that you were here in the first place: to give a home to special memories that otherwise exist only in your heart.

So where to begin again? Much has happened in the last few months yet little out of the ordinary. Nate's 2 teeth have grown to 8. Adrienne's hair has been cut into a cute bob. Nate's vocabulary has evolved from "ball" into "basketball" into "Go, go, white sox". Adrienne now includes words such as "colleagues", "bougainvillea", and "anthropod" into her conversations. Nate has stopped trying all foods put on his plate, but still loves to throw them on the floor. Adrienne has become extremely motivated by chocolate and other special treats. Nate plays soccer or basketball throughout the house. Adrienne's world is a ballet stage. Nate pretends he has boo-boos to get extra kisses. Adrienne likes to hold Nate's hand. Nate thinks everything Adrienne does is cool, except when she snatches his toys. Adrienne introduces Nate as her "best friend, even though he hits me sometimes". 

A few months have come and gone, and just a few missed milestones, right? Just a few funny stories, some laughs, a few tears, perhaps a flu or two, but nothing major. Then one morning you check on your kids and find there are feet sticking out from the baby blanket. A baby blanket which apparently can no longer contain the growing body that lies beneath it. You realize suddenly that the sleeping body beneath that blanket is not a baby anymore; that your baby is not a baby anymore. It occurs to you how fast he has evolved into a little boy and that he is growing up much too quickly just like his big sister did. As this realization of time and its funny ways dawns on you, it seems your eyes, much like the baby blanket, are suddenly too small to contain the tears welling up in them. So you take a picture to capture the moment and wonder how fast it will be before those little feet are sticking out the bottom of a full-sized bed. 

So while you regret the silent spring of Trouble's Tribune, change has certainly made its mark anyway. A kiss on the biggest of those sweet little toes brings you back; 10 soft, pink, little reminders to enjoy what you have right now. And a memory to live on.