There's a Muppet song called "Somebody's Getting Married".

The muppet babies sing "Days go passing into years" and the old muppets sing "Years go passing day by day"

Remember when you counted each day of summer anticipating the start of the next school year? How about counting the days until the weekend? Your Birthday? Christmas?

In my life now, I have stopped focusing on the day...or even the month. There is so much to be done that my focus now has become "next year"...."I'll add more perennials next summer" "We'll put the house on the market next year", "we'll visit home next summer"...and now 'next year' comes so much more quickly that there are times where I have had to put off a task for yet another year. Time has simply galloped on ahead of me.

I remember being pregnat with my first child. We lived in Germany and were planning to move to the UK in a year...it seemed like I still had forever in germany...and then..it was over. We moved to N. Ireland for what was to be a year and I imagined that the time would never end...our adventure there would give me time to relish and enjoy the experience more...and yet...suddenly the time was over and we were moving on.

I felt that my experiences in Germany (where I lived for several years)and N. Ireland would never be far from my memories or my heart..and yet now, 9 YEARS later, it almost feels like we never lived there. When I look through our photo albums it is hard for me to imagine that that time in our lives was real.

I thought that I would never forget how my first baby smelled....his first word, the day he took his first steps...and I didn't write these things down. I didn't think I would ever forget what they were like as babies...and now, the only thing that I have that connects me to that time are my photographs.

There are times now when my 9 year old daughter jumps onto my lap that I realize that I have to burn this memory into my mind. She is getting older and soon...she will be too big for my lap. A time will come before I'm ready, that she will be moving on into adulthood...and eventually it will be her daughter jumping on my lap.

Life is galloping on...moving forward at a pace that feels indescribably fast to me.

When my older children were babies I didn't feel too concerned about putting my career ambitions on hold. "There will be time for me" I consoled myself with the certainty of a woman in her mid-twenties that felt she would never hit the magic age of 30. 30 was my goal...at 30 I would definitely be back on the career track...I would be skinnier again, more confident and I would feel more...grown-up.

I'm 35 now...the skinnier part unfortunately hasn't happened yet...and I would say I'm not really more confident...I have just reached a point in my life where I feel entitled to my opinion and I don't really care what anyone else thinks [Big Grin] . But more grown-up? No...I don't really feel like I thought I would feel as a busy mom of 4. I feel like the same old me. My 61 year-old mother informed me yesterday that she feels the same way..that one of the big secrets of life is that you never really feel 'grown-up'. Wow, what a shocker. Now, I've revised my career-plan again. The magic number is now 40. Though this time, I realize that this number is ephemeral and subject to change...because Life happens.

I want to start living live each day again..not year by year or God forbid, decade by decade. The first 10 years of our marriage, my husband and I lived for tomorrow. "If we can just get through the USMLE...internship year...residency...fellowship...the first year out of training, then ....." And now, I just want to enjoy each day.

I have made a conscious decision to slow down...to take each day now and to savor the time I have left at home with my children. I don't know what the future brings, but one thing is certain: Years from now, they will leave the nest and this season of my life will be but a memory...it's one I am determined to enjoy.

Get off of the computer, grab your kids..and go to the park you guys! Do it now...do it this evening...just do it.