Twelve

Within the past 72 hours, my tall-for-their-age boys turned 12 and started middle school. I thought these two little milestones might have me breathing in a paper bag. But I’m handling it well, thank you very much.

Of course, the day is still young.

Even though I know time sometimes changes history by glamorizing the good times while downplaying the exhausting ones, sometimes I look over my shoulder towards their younger years. Their wide-eyed-wonder at everything from balloons to bugs captivated me as much as them. Still, I enjoy these tween years and my kids are a total blast!

But when I saunter down memory lane, my mind’s eye sees life play out like a movie. I’m watching the scenes featuring my family. Sometimes I peek through my fingers because seeing mistakes played out is no picnic. Neither is looking at all those times I fretted over things that didn’t amount to a hill of beans. But then I’m shocked when several scenes show I didn’t blow it like I thought. {I bet the same is true for you, too!} And lo and behold, I actually did some things well, thank you very much.

Of course, they are still young.

I’m far from done raising my kiddos. No matter the age of children, there is something holy going on with growing kids: living, breathing grace in motion.There will be days I bomb parenting and days don’t. But through His goodness and grace, God holds all those days together and weaves them into a tapestry of beauty, into a good life story.

Happy Birthday, sweet boys. You may be twins, but you are uniquely gifted, individual brothers who just happened to be born at the same time. Thank you for bringing glorious color to our black-and-white world. Your Dad and I couldn’t possibly love you more.