Agree with all the petty annoyances here as I definitely had the odd day where I could’ve quite happily paused the whole thing and walked away for a bit to save my sanity (and I was one of those who really relished the babyhood and childhood days and found a lot of fulfilment in them).
Now that my children are grown up, though, it’s mostly that people told the truth - you never stop worrying, you never stop wanting them to be happy and safe, you never stop wanting to make things okay. One of the hardest things to come to terms with is that you really can’t make everything good for them.
I’m not a mother who ever wanted to be unhealthily enmeshed with my children - I fiercely guarded my own identity separate from motherhood, and I truly was happy for them, and for me, every time they gained another little bit of independence. I celebrated it, knowing that I’d done the best I could, with the resources available to me, to prepare them for a well-balanced, contented life.
But now I'm in the phase where the passage of time becomes abundantly clear - I can look back and see time stretching ever further behind me, marvelling at how quickly it all went, and how truly far away it all seems. They’re my children, but they’re no longer mine - I did what I was supposed to do and let them go. It’s a special kind of heartbreak, in a funny way.
Slipping Through my Fingers
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go?
(Slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn't
And why? I just don't know
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
(Sorry for the sentimentality - I’m having one of those weeks where I seem to be carrying an ocean of tears inside me!)
It will pass. You will get through it. You’ll come out the other side and wonder where the years went and marvel at the great people your children have become, and that you had a hand in shaping them.
Hope you all have a good day today! 
and 
for all, and 
or 
for those who need it today!