Anyone Sell Time in a Bottle?

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

– "Time in a Bottle" (Jim Croce)

I was reminded today of two Carter milestones that will make me an emotional wreck: Graduation Day and Wedding Day.

No rush, please.

If anyone knows of a place I can buy some time in a bottle, let me know. Those two days will be here before I know it. Uff da.

Case in point No. 1 – my "adopted daughter" Brittney. Wasn't it just yesterday I bragged up the fact she was a freshman starting on the varsity hoops team? She was my "daughter" fix for every sport season and now I will never see her play as a Lady Royal again.

This morning's graduation ceremony at Assumption was very nice. Am I the only one who gets a lump in their throat when they play Pomp and Circumstance? I just envision Carter marching in and I fall to pieces. "24 months, Mom!" he reminds me.

Slow down, kid. Time is going fast enough as it is.

Case in point No. 2 – my "adopted sisters" Sally and Cindy. Our friendship has lasted two dozen years already! Where did that time go?

My first job out of college in 1990 I worked with these two at the newspaper in Menominee, Mich. They were my family. When I left there in 1994, Sally had only two boys of her three. Today, her middle son got married. Again, where did that time go?

When our kids were younger, we made a point of getting together during one of the summer weekends – either Memorial Day, July Fourth or Labor Day. We made sure it was a weekend we had our big boys, Casey and Clay. Between the three of us "girls", we had 7 boys. And boy did that get crazy. And they had a ball.

Now with Sally's third son graduating this week, too, Carter is the only one left in high school. Did we just see lives pass before our eyes??

After graduation today, we drove up to Menominee for the wedding reception. It was important to be there for a happy occasion since the last trip up was for a funeral. We need happy times to laugh – and only cry because we are emotional mothers!

So great to see those two and the rest of my "family" up there. I told the groom, "I've known your mom longer than YOU have!"

While I can't stop time and save it in a bottle, I sure have an overflowing amount of memories stored in my mind (and in some scrapbooks).

We'll just treasure our time together now – like I'll have to do with my baby while I still have him.

Still, it sure would be nice to slow it down a bit...