From the editor: Enjoy it while it lasts

We are on month #5 of working from home, and as I sit at my desk, beside my front window, I have a front row seat to the goings-on of my neighborhood.

I’ve seen roofers, painters, landscapers, garbage collectors, dog walkers and Amazon delivery drivers galore.

But my favorite thing is watching the little kids in the neighborhood. They ride by on bikes. Sometimes they are dressed in princess costumes. They show off dolls or trucks to anyone they pass.

And I admit it, I’m a middle aged lady whose “baby” is over 6 feet tall and headed into sophomore year of high school, so I watch all these scenes with a twinge of sadness that these days are over for me and my children.

The sweetest scene of the summer has been my neighbors constructing a playset in their backyard.

The other day, I started to notice a lot of bang-bang-banging of hammers. And, not long after, some bickering. Sure enough, I looked out to see my two (adorable) neighbors and one grandpa building the playset themselves. Themselves, God bless them!

I remember putting up our swingset. It was awful. So many pieces! And it was hot, and nothing seemed to fit together the way it was supposed to. And obviously, tempers flared.

That said, it was totally worth it. My kids loved that thing and played on it for hours at a time.

So I could see the neighbors’ playset taking shape, as the top of it peeks over their fence, the poor mother up there assembling parts of the attached “fort.”

The children soon came walking down the street with their grandma. As soon as they saw the top of the playset, they both went running, shouting with joy all the way to their yard.

I couldn’t see the mom anymore, but I can guarantee she was smiling to hear that joy. All those hours in the sun with barely decipherable instructions was surely worth it to her right then.

In the days since it went up, I’ve heard the little ones laughing and shouting and just having plain old fun on the playset.

Like I said, I love to hear their little voices. Even when they are shouting, and even when they are crying (hey, it happens when you’ve got kids).

And I know I should just pop my head over the fence and say “Enjoy it while you can.”

Because kids grow up, and it happens so fast. I can’t remember the last time my son played on the swingset (yes, it’s still standing in our yard, basically rotting, because I can’t bear to let it go). If I had known that day, years ago, was the last day he would play on it, would I have taken pictures? Would I have cried? Would I have begged him the next day to go for a swing one more time? Would I have watched him the whole time he played, savoring every moment and committing it to memory, instead of doing whatever else I was doing at the time (likely laundry...it’s always laundry, or so it seems)?

All I can do when I see these sweet little scenes play out next door is try even harder to take my own advice and enjoy THIS stage while I can. Go to my kid’s football games, savor his delight at setting up his own bank account, take him to an empty parking lot now and then to practice driving. Because before I know it, he’s going to be a 35-year-old dad of two with a job and a life outside my house.

As always, we thank our sponsor, Saint Anne's Hospital.