The College Mama

No more complaining

I spend a lot of time complaining about winter. The cold, the snow, the lack of daylight hours. Here in the Northeast winter lasts a very long time. There are years when it arrives in October and doesn't depart until April. Ugh. I decided last year that it was time to stop whining and instead use my energy to start enjoying this very long season. Before the kids came along we used to ski. Jeff loved it. I tolerated it. When the kids were young we spent a lot of time sled riding. We all had such a great time and as an added bonus after a day of sledding everyone would be exhausted and fall asleep early. Any parent of young children knows what a blessing that is! Now that the kids are grown up we don't have anyone to take sled riding. Except for ourselves that is. Here's a short video clip of one of last year's sledding adventures:

 

This past weekend was the annual Winterfest event here where we live. We were able to grab out sleds and join in on the fun.

We had a great time but I did notice something. When the kids were little and we went sledding with them our focus at the end of the day was getting home, feeding them and putting them to bed. Now, when we're done sled riding, our focus is seeing who can be the first to grab this:

I'm not going to complain but my how times have changed.

Turning back the clock

20 years ago my life was so different. Parenting little children was all consuming. Life was a little crazy to put it mildly. There were days when I thought I would be changing diapers F-O-R-E-V-E-R. I honestly never believed a time would come when every waking moment wouldn't revolve around meeting the needs of children. I know people always comment about time passing quickly. It's one of those things we tend to talk about when engaging in casual conversation...that and the weather. Well, guess what. TIme really does pass quickly. There's nothing casual about the emotions that surface when I talk about how different things are now. Gone are the days of diapers, story books, toys, doctor visits and sibling rivalry. Oh it's nice to be able to come and go as I please without thinking about the need for a babysitter. It's nice to be able to have homework free evenings and nights of uninterrupted sleep. I could list many things that are nice now but to be honest, I'd give it all up in a heartbeat to have a chance to turn back the clock; maybe not permanently but every now and then. On those days when my heart aches to be able to give a simple hug to one of my children, it would be so wonderful to be able to push a button and once again have them fighting over who was going to sit on my lap.

Since turning back the clock isn't an option, I thought I would take the opportunity to do a little stroll down memory lane. This will also give me the chance to introduce you to each of my children. I'll do this over the course of the next few weeks. Let's start today with my oldest son, Ben.

Ben was born on January 21, 1987. We were so happy to welcome this little guy into our family.

 

We were SO in love with our little Ben.

As the months progressed, we could tell we had a real charmer on our hands.

Not only was he charming, he was also cool and mischievous.

Ben was always a very hard worker.

The only fault I have ever been able to find with him is that he grew up much too fast.

One last picture, taken a few weeks ago after Ben crawled out of bed at the crack of noon.

Ben is now a student at Penn State University, majoring in physics. One day when he was 5-years-old he told me that he was never going to move away because he wanted to take care of me for the rest of my life. Ben if you're reading this, as much as I'd like to take you up on that offer I'm really proud of the person you're becoming. You have so many things to offer this world; things that are much greater than taking care of your dear ol' mom. Although, every now and then feel free to take a few minutes to make me feel like you still need me because truth be told I need you. I always will. 

 

Welcome to the College Mama blog

Welcome to the College Mama blog! I am a middle-aged mother of four wonderful children. Child number one is a physics major at Penn State University. Child number two is a chemical engineering major at Clemson University. Child number three is finishing his senior year in high school while taking classes at Mansfield University. Child number four is also a high school senior. She will begin college in August at a yet to be determined university. A lot of people have asked me, "Didn't you think about the fact that all of your children would be in college at the same time when you began your family?" The answer to that is, "Kind of". It just seemed like it would be an eternity before our children grew up and left home. Of course we thought we had plenty of time to save plenty of money for the plenty of children we had. Guess what? Time went fast. Money went even faster. We saved some but have you looked at tuition lately? It's SCARY. We're managing. We're not living on the street yet which is a good thing. I've had a different blog for the past four years. I've found that I've had very little to write about there because my life is so much different than it was four years ago. It was time for a change. Time for "College Mama" to do some writing. I've learned a lot over the past few years and maybe some of that information just might be helpful to someone else who is getting ready to send their kids to college. Even if it's not, writing about this experience will be good for me. I'm finding out as the kids leave home one by one that it's good to take care of myself because once they're all gone, I'll still be here.