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And Time Keeps Rolling Along…
I’m currently on vacation in Ireland with my family. My oldest daughter has six weeks off before she has to go back to college to start basketball practice for the coming season. My middle daughter moves away to college this fall. My youngest will be a junior in high school and travels a lot with sports, so she’s not around as much as I would like. For years, my girls were rarely apart, now they’re rarely together, and that makes me so sad. Of course, the whole point of raising kids is to create independent, self-sufficient adults, so I guess this is exactly what we’ve been trying to accomplish for the past 20 years. So, good for us. But this hurts. Especially because when I think of my girls, this is what I see:
A few weeks ago, we decided to recreate that picture – have everybody sit in the same order, in the same pose, with the same facial expressions, and so on. I knew it would be a bit different, but I still found it startling:
The pictures are 16 years apart. My girls were so tiny before, and now they’re 6’4”, 5’10”, and 6’3”. You can hardly even see my 6’1″ wife in the second picture, which strikes me as symbolic.
And time keeps rolling along.
We’re happiest when we dream of better tomorrows, and we’re sad when we realize that the past is gone, and it’s not coming back. So, it’s all good. This is how things are supposed to go. I’m not complaining.
Well, I guess I am. But I shouldn’t be.
We’re having a great time touring around – Ireland really is beautiful. Although to me, the really beautiful part is getting my little girls together, even for a brief time. At times like this, everything is right in the universe.
Well, everything except the pain felt by an old man, as he curses the passage of time.
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Hey, it gets better as they get older. Pretty soon careers, marriage, and . . . grandkids.
Whoot! (or, if you are like me, bwa-ha-ha-hah.)
Great “then and now” pictures, and your youngest made sure she put on the same face as the baby pic. That baby pic might do for a “meme” pose. Thought bubble: Move over sisters, you’re hogging my limelight!
Did you meet up with @paddysiochain?
Hold on it even gets faster. Don’t miss the Aran Islands in Ireland.
Before I had kids, I did not realize that they were the most wonderful life sentence a man could have.
How nice! I’m in the same boat. My youngest (27) was just home for a few days … time he tacked on to the end of a business trip. And my oldest (29) took some vacation days so we got the chance to be together again. And it’s amazing how, no matter their actual age or achievements, in your head they are still 8.
Actually, they all did, if you look carefully.
And somehow in your head you are always 12 to 15 when you talk to your dad. (At least that is how it was for me on my Saturday morning calls to him. Look, Dad! See what I did this week.)
Having my dad see me at work has been a great pleasure.
To borrow a phrase from the Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin … “Crikies, that’s a big’n”
What did you guys do? HGH in the Corn Flakes?
The Bastiat family must be hell-on-wheels at the block-party volleyball games!
Your youngest was clearly struggling to hold the frown. In a way, a great compliment to her father.
I’m 6’2″, which is not all that unusual for a man. And my parents aren’t that tall (6’1″ & 5’10”). But my wife is 6’1″, and two of my daughters got their height from her. A 6’4″ woman is equivalent to a 6’11” man, so that’s pretty unusual. Our 6’3″ baby is growing like a weed right now, so we’re not sure how tall she’ll be.
Our middle child is probably the only 5’10” girl on the planet with a short complex.
And you’re right. We get noticed. We walk into a restaurant, and everybody stares.
It’s hard for a girl to be that tall. When asked by a 5’2″ blonde “My God – how tall are you?” my oldest sometimes responds, 5’16”. Dating is difficult. Other girls can be mean sometimes. It’s tough to find cute shoes in a size 14. Luckily, they’re pretty girls. That helps.
But you can’t hide. It wears on them sometimes.
Yeah, she kept messing up our picture by breaking out in a giggle fit. It was so cute.
It’s difficult on both ends of the extreme. Your girls will be fine.
But as to your mixture of pain at the passing of their childhoods and elation at their growing independence, well, it’s the beautiful sorrow of parenthood we all experience. Maedel turns 11 this year and I already get all misty-eyed when I see old pictures of her from the toddler years.
Agreed. One of my daughter’s college roommates was 6’3 or 6’4 and clothes…especially shoes, seemed a never ending struggle.
We are fortunate that capri’s are in style right now. Because ALL their pants are capri’s.
I’m 5′ something under 6″ and my roommate for a couple of years in grad school was 6’10”. We had the same waist size (28) and the same problem finding pants that fit. 28X28 was as hard-to-find as 28X36.
The problem with children is they are programmed to fly the nest. And that is also so very, very good!
My mother-in-law used to say, “A son is a son ’til he takes a wife. A daughter’s a daughter the rest of your life.” Of course that’s not universally true, but among my acquaintances, I see that happen often.
You have a beautiful family.
Dr B
I feel your pain…. Christmas morning 1997
Wow – he must have been all back! My girls are 6-7 inches shorter than him, and their inseam is 37″. And a 28 inch waist. Must have been an odd looking guy.
Three girls, eh? Somebody forgot to invite their “Y” chromosomes to the party.
He looked well..elongated. He had been recruited as an Olympic high jumper but destroyed a knee playing basketball. Another interesting thing is that his father, also tall and lanky, had a sideline playing Abe Lincoln for public presentations in schools around the states of Indiana and Illinois.
Just a charming post, Dr. B. As the father of two daughters, 51 and 49, I can assure you, they will always be your “little girls.”
I too have three daughters and often grow wistful when thinking of them. Today is anniversary number 38, and my Beloved and I look back on the years and see that our yung’uns are our chief source of happiness. And I often think of this:
2009
2012
2014
2016
2018
Eldest is now 17, but shorter than #’s 2 and 3 (who are nearly 14 and 13). Youngest will be 10 in a couple of weeks.
Beautiful girls, and my how they’ve grown! I love “that was then, this is now” photo comparisons of children. Congratulations!
I’ve got 4, so something might be in the water?
I’ve been joking for years that with 4, it’s Little Women, and if we’d had a 5th then it would be Pride and Prejudice.
I want to see video of the family basketball games at the basket in the driveway . . .
I’ve got three girls, too, and I’m sure we have a couch picture like your first one. We’ll have to recreate it when they get together again (ages 24,21, 17 now).
I’d love to see it!
26, 25, and soon to be 24 here . . .
I know several folks with three daughters. Granted, we adopted ours, but is there some magical or God-ordained decree that three girls are “Da Bomb”? We know a bunch of folks with X-enhanced chromosome offspring, but that doesn’t explain the “three” part . . .