Realization

Mark and I are planning a big garage sale. We have furniture, baby things, toys, all kinds of stuff to sell. It is going to be a rather large garage sale. So we have been going through old tubs of things from the other house that we just never unpacked. We also went through most of the toys in the basement and made a keep pile and a sell pile. Finally, tonight was the night that I began going through the many tubs of baby/kid clothes that I have had...forever. As I find myself excited about the possibility of earning a lot of money from this sale, I suddenly was faced with a harsh realization. My kids are NOT babies anymore. It's funny because I still think of them as babies, I really do. You know how people tell you to enjoy your kids because they grow up too fast? Well, I never thought that applied to me because my kids are still little. Boy, was I wrong! As I am sifting through the first box I am faced with Nicholas' things. Since I gave all of his itty bitty baby clothes to Katie, I was dealing with 12 months and up. I found a onesie I had saved from when he was born that said, "Dr. Morgan really delivers!" (Dr. Morgan didn't even deliver Nicholas! It was Dr. Graber!) Ialso came across an array of truck t-shirts and little shorts. As I pull out each item of clothing, my mind takes me way back to the time when he wore that outfit. Vivid memories of him throwing ball or playing in the backyard or helping Daddy in the yard came flooding back to me. I found the Christmas sweater he wore for Christmas when he was decorating the tree with me one afternoon. It hit me all at once how fast time had gone by. Then I begin to go through Maggie's clothes. This time I do have her itty bitty baby things. As I look at these tiny pieces of clothing I am filled with memories of when she was an infant. The many outfits she wore in the hospital when it was just the two of us with no visitors. I also recalled the moment I was shopping for some of those outfits. I remember the excitement I felt at finding these adorable little girl outfits and thinking about how cute they would be on her. Going through Maggie's clothes was a bit of a different emotion than going through Nicholas' things. On one hand, here are Nicholas' clothes- my first child, my only boy, the one I have seen grow so much over the past six years. Then on the other hand, there are Maggie's clothes- my baby, my teeny tiny little girl, the one that is supposed to stay little forever because she is the little sister. I was shocked at how much emotion I felt going through these clothes. All I could think was "They are clothes- what is the big deal???" But each outfit I looked at brought back just one more memory of time that had already passed. It made me realize that although they are still little, they have grown so much in such a short amount of time. It makes me want to slow down and appreciate all the little things a little more.