You Can Stop Now....

It was one of those days.

The kind of day in which things only happen if you do them yourself.  So I was quite obviously irritated when I picked him up from daycare.  I bit my tongue as he fooled around gathering his items.  By the time I watched him stack three hats on top of his head and make silly faces I couldn't take it anymore and I snapped.

The trip to the grocery store, in the pouring rain, was also pretty trying as he excitedly described his day, not even stopping to take a breath, or so it seemed. Inside the grocery store didn't get much better as he asked for everything and anything that contained either chocolate or a hot dog.

I didn't have a quarter to use a cart (I never carry cash, one of my flaws perhaps?), so I fumbled with the groceries in my arms as he asked me over and over again for chocolate at the check out line. I shook my head and cursed under my breath as he hopped away, begging for a quarter for one of those  little bouncy balls they have in the vending machines on the way out.

"If I had a quarter, I would have bought a cart" I spat out.

and then a strange lady came up behind me and felt the need to brighten my day by mentioning that 80% of kids that go off to college end up moving back home after they graduate.  My first thought was thanks a lot lady for wasting my time and being an annoying ass at the same time.

Then I realized how sad I will be when he leaves me.  I can already see it happening.  It seems like not so long ago he was a bald little baby with the biggest eyes who was not able to talk back or beg for chocolate at the checkout line.  I didn't have to bribe him to eat all his dinner when he was a baby and I never had to worry about bullies at school or picking out clothes that he wants to wear because Thomas t-shirts are no longer "cool".

One day I will look back and miss his fingernails that never seem to come clean, his dirt-stained knees and missing front tooth.  I will miss his excitement about his day at school.  I will miss him learning to read and the way he rides his two wheeler.

I don't think that lady meant to make me think so deeply about it, I honestly think she was a little bit insane, but her weird comment about statistics really made me realize how much I am going to miss about this stage of his life. 

I probably won't miss watching Scooby Doo cartoons eight hours a day though.  I'm pretty sure I can live without that.