Joey Ficcaglia waits for the school bus to arrive on his first day of kindergarten in 2010.
Assistant Editor Jennifer Ficcaglia with her son, Joey, on Joey’s first day of kindergarten in 2010.Back-to-school time is here, and with it comes milestones for two of my coworkers.
Staff Writer Jennifer Burke’s eldest child, Izzy, is starting kindergarten. On the other end of the spectrum, Staff Writer Annette Jim√©nez’s youngest child, Aidan, is entering his senior year.
It seems like only yesterday that I was cooing over an infant Izzy and meeting kindergartner Aidan for the first time.
I’m sure both moms are experiencing a range of emotions right now — excitement at seeing their babies enter new chapters of their lives, but at the same time wistfulness upon realizing how fast they are growing up.
I remember having those same feelings when my eldest son, Joey, started kindergarten.
I can still see the wide smile on his chubby little face as he ate his breakfast that morning and how he jumped up and down with excitement when he saw the school bus coming down the road to pick him up.
I also remember worrying about him and crying after he left.
Fast forward seven years: Now Joey is taller than I am and is almost 13!
Where has the time gone? Sometimes I’d like to freeze frame certain moments from my life so I can savor them longer and more deeply embed the memories in my mind.
It’s during moments like these that I like to remember Ecclesiastes 3: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.”
Our lives are full of cycles. As the Scripture says, there’s a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh. Every season of our lives is appointed by God — even the season of our children growing up!
I hope everyone has a safe and successful school year!
