Two-Thirds of the Way There

In November, we took a trip to Boston.  The route we chose was almost 900 miles and took over 15 hours.  It was a long, tiring journey.  There were a few tense moments when we encountered some patches of snow.  There were some times when we were so tired, we were just wishing the trip would be over.  It was so taxing, that on the trip back home, we decided to stay over night halfway.

Six years ago, our oldest daughter turned six.  We watched her open her birthday cards and presents.  Steve said to me, "We'll do this two more times, and she'll be gone."  He meant, we had already experienced one-third of her time at home with us.  Instead of wishing the journey would just be over, we felt sad that it was going so quickly.  The journey with both of our girls' "at-home years" seems so short. We were a little stunned: how could we already be one-third of the way there?

Our oldest daughter is 12 now, and we are two-thirds of the way there. And we aren't looking for any shortcuts or hoping for a place to stop and rest.  We aren't wishing the time would just zip by and we would be "done."

The days are long, but the years are short.