Dear Cart (and Lucca when you are Carter’s age),
I read this article about once a month, to remind me of how short our time is.
This is not something I ever thought about in middle school, but once I hit high school, I started thinking about how often I’d see my friends once we all went off to college. The answer: not often. This thought has probably not crossed your mind, yet. It will soon enough, now that you’ve graduated middle school and are heading toward bigger and better things (we are all so proud of you).
My wish for you is that you keep this picture tucked away in your head over your next four years in high school. It will go by faster than you can imagine. You will forget about it often. So, maybe hang on to this note somewhere that you will remember it and whip it out anytime you need perspective.
It’s easy to crawl into our own holes and get lost doing our own stuff all the time. We all do it (although it’s a little bit harder for me and Mom to find a hole with Lucca around). And we all need our space. But we all need each other as well. And our time together is on a short clock.
This chart lays out all of the days that we will spend with our parents in our lifetime (assuming we live into our 90’s). When you zoom in, you’ll notice that the red dots (which are actually tiny stick figures of parents) are already crossed out. The black ones at the bottom are the days remaining.
It turns out, that by the time you graduate from high school, you will have used up roughly 90% of your in-person parent time.
Think about this. Despite being very young, you are already nearing the end of your time with some of the most important people in your life.
Make the most of that time. There is not nearly as much of it as you might think. We love you and we want to enjoy having you at home these next four years.
C
P.S. Lucca – we still have plenty of time to “enjoy” you.