Sweet Family Moments

There are moments- sweet, tender moments- that visit all of our lives.  They sneak in quietly while we are busy living, and make us who we are, shape who we become.  They come to us, fill us up, make us laugh, make us cry, and change everything in the world. 
I remember being in the grocery store and pushing one cart full of children, and pulling another full of groceries. I remember sweet cheeks, rosy with sleep. Going to the purple and green park. Princess costumes. Trips to Thumb Tum (Tom Thumb)  to buy gummi watches as please-go-potty-in-the-toilet bribes. Never seeing the bottom of the laundry piles. I remember reading Madeline so many times I knew it by heart.  Scrambling for change because the Tooth Fairy needed to come. Buzz Lightyear.  Dandelion crowns. Chore lists. Afternoons at the beach.  I will never forget sewing Halloween costumes and Easter dresses.  Cloverland and the Grandfather Tree.  First days of school where I was the one who cried.   Concerts. So many concerts. Superhero costumes. Marching band.  Art projects.  Learning to drive!  Braces, prom, dates, friends.  Carving pumpkins. Decorating the Christmas tree. The Stockade. 
Working together, moving together, laughing together, making music together.  Oh, the music!  All of the precious moments, together.  It was happy.  And hard.  And wonderful!  Fleeting, fleeting moments that feel like forever, and then are past. 
 There is no way to prepare for how quickly they go. 
Just cherish the moments. Revel in them and save them in your heart and mind. 
Because in a flash- a turn of the head, an intake of breath- the moment is gone.  On to a new one.
There are moments in all of our lives. Sweet, tender moments that are here and then gone, but that change us forever.