Growing Up

In the midst of all the excitement about getting our own house and thinking about settling down, Pops and I have been telling each other that we can't wait to start our new phase of life together :)

Today, my manager told me out of the blue that she will be taking leave on Monday to celebrate her 10th year wedding anniversary. How sweet, I thought. And how long a 10-year marriage seems!

I was immediately immersed in a flashback of the past 10 years of my life. And I asked her, whether it seemed to have past by very fast?

Yes, very fast. It was almost like a blink of an eye. And I jokingly replied, blink a few more times and your kids will be all grown up.

When I returned home, I found myself stopping right in front of our family portrait. The one we took to commemorate my graduation.

I looked at my parents, my brothers with their families, and my teenage niece. And me, in that gown and mortar. To my parents, I was a little baby in what seemed like a couple of blinks ago, barely able to walk and so dependent on them.

Now, I'm all ready to move on to a new stage of my life, starting a family, going through what they have gone through and very soon, it'll seem like I'm living my life again through my children's life. All the childish laughters, the academic matters and the teenage problems. Until they are old enough to start their own families, and the cycle continues for them.

We spend our lives wanting to grow up, wanting to move on to the next stage of life, wanting to experience something new. Looking back, I sometimes wonder, what's the hurry?

I don't want to look back at the previous stage of life wishing I had laughed a little more, stayed up a little later, saw more of the world, danced a little crazier, loved a little harder, indulged a little heartier, learned a little greedier.

Most of all, I don't want to look back at the previous stage of my life and realize that I hadn't embraced those moments enough. That I didn't live the minutes for what they are worth.

I don't just want to look forward. I want to enjoy my life right at this moment, embrace it, and be thankful for it, while I look forward to the next.

So one thing on my Gratitude List today - I'm thankful that I stopped myself in the racing track of life  and took a moment to enjoy the gorgeous surrounding.