Like sands through the hourglass.

Tomorrow is Railfan's eighteenth birthday.

I keep feeling like this cannot be happening, much like I did when the Not-So-Little Drummer Boy turned twenty-one.  Where did the time go? How can so many years have slipped by so fast?

I love my kids.  They are turning into interesting and compassionate adults.  I realize every parent feels this way, but, in general, my kids rock.  But part of them turning into adults is them going away.  It is separation.  And yes, as a parent you start preparing for this day long in advance, as you teach them to be independent, but it is still a shock when it comes.

Railfan will be home for a while yet (he is going to school locally), but he will be having a life apart from us.  And in a couple of years, he will be gone, as will the Red-Headed Menace, only to return on breaks from school and later, only at major holidays.

I am trying to savor all the time I can now while they are at home. I know how little there is left and how soon it will be gone.