In the first moments, your new little one seems more like an alien than a bundle of joy, but after a bath for baby and a few deep breaths for the new parents, your little angel looks their part. Their little red face is all scrunched up, and the sounds that voice from their puckered little mouth are the most precious notes you could ever hope for. You ache any time the nurses take them for tests, and you deny offers from well meaning friends and family who offer to hold them while you get some sleep. All you want to do is be with your new baby, and you'll forego food, water and sleep to do just that! The Young at Heart
Have you ever stopped to think how quickly time passes by, especially as you get older? I look back and it seems like yesterday that I was graduating from high school, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed looking at the big world before me. Gee, that was 18 years ago!
Where exactly did the time go?
As a child we wish to be of a certain age, mostly so that we can have the freedom that adults do to explore the world and do what we wish to do at any given time. Our parents would tell us “Don’t wish the years away. Enjoy your childhood.” Did we listen?
I suppose as a child we feel like we are under the ball and chain of our parents, with curfews, school schedules, and chores. True enough, we have so many more responsibilities being an adult but we didn’t think of that in our younger years. We had one focus and that was being “free.”
Now I look back and wish to be a child again. Now it is me telling children to “Enjoy your childhood” and “Don’t wish your life away.” It doesn’t surprise me that they aren’t listening!
When I was younger I used to look at someone who was 30 years of age as being old…until I became 30. Now, almost 36, I look at someone who is 50 as being old. Guess what? It’s not that far away.
How does one stay young at heart?
As the years went on, Christmas, Easter, and all the special occasions we celebrate began to have no meaning and no grand excitement as it did when I was a child. Life really didn’t have a cause or a purpose after awhile either. What role exactly did I play in life? Where was the meaning in my life? Where was all the joy and excitement of the holidays?
At 32 years of age, the answers to those questions were answered. At 34 years of age, they were again answered. It was at those times that I became a Mother and my whole life in the present and future was changed. I was rewarded with two beautiful children and these little ones gave me the meaning, role and joy and excitement of my life.
It is my children that keep me young at heart. Oh, yes, I am sleep depraved and feel at times that I am going on 60. There are other times as I am singing nursery rhymes to them that I feel like I am 5 all over again.
As they grow older my goal is to instill in them to live life to the fullest and enjoy all the experiences of their childhood. Yes, I will tell them not to wish their life away. I laugh, though, because I know they won’t listen. Or maybe they will…
If their childhood is filled with happiness and joy they will be less apt to wish the years away. My belief is that it is how a child is brought up that will depend on how quickly the child wishes to be an adult. If a child’s younger years are filled with love, happiness and fulfillment I truly believe that the child will love each moment of their life.
Babies are a gift to be treasured and from the first moment that your baby enters the world, give them the love of life. Keep them young at heart!
Enjoy your time with your baby for he/she will keep “you” young at heart.
