I have a lump in my throat as I look at this picture on an airplane. It seems this Mother’s Day is the beginning of the end of this party of 5 as I know it. What I was thinking was...next year my baby girl, my first born, the one who made me a mom after years of trying to get pregnant will be graduating. What will I be feeling a year from now? Will I always get to see her on this day? How was it that just a few years ago we were that young family with three littles in tow? I was also thinking how tall my son is getting. And how his freshman year has flown by. I never want to stop watching him play sports. I never want a season to go by where we aren’t talking about games and touches on the ball and goals missed and made. And my other son, I was hoping he was smiling because it’s been a while since we took a picture where everyone was not just smiling but more importantly genuinely happy. Please let him be happy I was thinking. Please God, let me get to experience his silliness and playfulness at least another year longer. All of those thoughts ran through my mind as we stood there and asked another mom, with three little ones of her own, to take this picture. It wasn’t a perfect day, but it was a day I got to spend with my kids, on their sweetest best behavior and I felt filled with deep gratitude. If I had one wish it would just be to slow down time. And while I can’t actually make that happen I am going to put in even more effort this next year to slow down and enjoy all the “lasts.” 🤍