when i get big

I must hear Bergen say that about 10 times a day. It goes something like this : When I get big *I* will drive a car and *you* can sit in the back. . .when I get big I can go on a plane all by myself. . . when I get big I will go to the office like Daddy. . . when I get big I can go on a roller coaster. . .

And I always reply, "yes, honey, when you are big".

There is so much anticipation on growing up when you are little. I remember always wishing I was older then I was. I recall sitting around the table at family gatherings wanting to participate in conversations about Victor and Victoria with the other women, but being too young to watch The Young and the Restless I could only sit and listen. I remember loving coffee since the age of 10 and only getting 2 ozs in my cup wishing I was old enough to enjoy a real cup of coffee like everyone else. And of course there is the excitement of turning 10 and being in the "double digits" or impatiently waiting to get that drivers license.

But as a parent now of a young boy who is already growing too fast and wants to grow even faster - I want to tell him not wish this time away and enjoy his childhood. I want him to stay young and naive forever (okay, maybe not *forever*, but for as long as possible!!) Life just seems so easy when you are a child, but unfortunately us adults know differently.

This past weekend I read an article about family blogs highlighting a few families that use them. One woman who blogs gave the advice to "not write about anything bad because no one wants to hear about bad news". And while I agree that no one wants to read a blog by Debbie Downer, I couldn't help but think that would be pretending like life is all peaches and cream when we all know it is more like rocky road. And maybe I am just focused on the pain of life right now with some important family members struggling with health concerns, but life has served up a whole bowl of rocky road that no one ordered.

We experience life for good or bad and for the most part there is much we can't control. I have a long list of questions for God - which pretty much run along the lines of "why do bad things happen to good people?" The older I get the more I hear about bad things happening to good, wonderful, amazing people that my heart and mind will just never, ever understand *why*. In life we are meant to have suffering. That is why we have our families, our friends and our God to help us endure.

So to my amazing little Bergen who can't wait to be big, my prayerful advice to you is slow down little man. There is plenty of time.