You're Gonna Miss This

There’s a new song out by Trace Adkins that has lyrics that makes me fall to pieces. I heard it alone in my car the other day; it was a good thing I was alone because anyone who saw the mess I turned into would have laughed. Well, no, if they are parents, they wouldn’t have.

The chorus goes like this: “You’re gonna miss this. You’re gonna want this back. You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast. These are the good times. Take a good look around. You might now know it now, but you’re gonna miss this.”

The song has new meaning since dear friends of ours laid their 7 month old baby girl to rest last week. Little did they know that all that they went through with her – surgeries, praying over her crib, watching her struggle - they’d actually miss it and want it back. My friend wrote that even knowing what she knows now, she’d still do it all again – love her for those same 7 months. What she wouldn’t give to change her diaper, nurse her and hold her again.

Yesterday as I argued with my son about EVERYTHING in the morning routine – breakfast, sack lunch, clothes, homework, medicine, etc., I tried to remember that I’m going to miss this. Again in the evening as dinner time was ruined with a fit, I grimaced at the thought of what dinner would be like without him there at all.

When I couldn’t get my daughter to sleep last night because she wanted me to read book after book after book until all hours of the night when I was about to pass out from fatigue, I tried to draw upon the song, and the memory of sweet little Emily.

One day my son will be a happily independent and delightful young man and I’ll wish I could still coach him; my daughter will just drift off to sleep in her bed and I’ll wish I could still read her endless books and rock her. One day I’ll look up and they’ll be gone.

As tough as the baby days were, these days are tougher – and the days ahead will be tougher still. The baby days in our house are over forever – I wish I’d held them tighter, snuggled them closer and rocked them longer. I know that every day is precious and even despite all of the chaos, stress, and overwhelming responsibility, these are the good times – and they’ll all be good times. And I’m going to miss it even more as they get older. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.