Time Keeps On Ticking
Bennie Waddell | Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 1:26PM Life seems to move so very fast these days and for the record I’m beginning to think we humans age at the speed of enlightenment. For your information that’s a rate very much slower than the speed I’m alluding to but way faster than we can digest or comprehend or to appreciate those moments in time we will always treasure. Tomorrow our not-so-young son will have been with us a full decade. Ten years of age just doesn't seem quite right given that a few miracles here and there have kept Ben alive. And these days he's not just alive but thriving!
Rewind back to ten years ago today. There is no possible way we could know how much our family's lives would change due to the little boy who would arrive two months early October 2, 1999. Careers have been adjusted, friends have departed, faith has been challenged, savings have disappeared, and what we thought we knew about our world has been turned completely upside down. Despite all of that none of us would trade the experience for any other.
Ben has taught us more about living this life than any other teacher, preacher, professor, parent, psychologist, or psychic. Each of the past three thousand six hundred and forty six days have been a gift. Like the presents Ben will soon receive each day has been carefully unwrapped and examined. Some have provided a great deal of pain, some a steady salty stream of tears, some have been so full of fear that we thought our very souls would be crushed beneath it.
But there were those other days. The ones that brought smiles & laughter. The ones where accomplishments once unimagineable were acheived. Days with hidden miracles that are still unexplained. Days of discovering incredible grace under pressure. And above all else an endless future of hope.
In reality raising Ben has been easier than you might think. The milestones accomplished are mostly slow and far between. More often than not we have plenty of time to prepare for them, to digest them, and to properly appreciate them. Our typical child Jessie, on the other hand, is a normal "little" girl fast becoming a young woman. Despite my best attempts she is growing at a rate that at times absolutely amazes us. I look at her in the mornings and she's still a little girl yet she arrives home from school each afternoon more of a woman. Even her schedule is a whirlwind of activity sometimes seven days a week.
Which situation is better? After ten years we still cannot answer that. All we can truly say is that Joan and I have high hope for both of our children - although each one being quite different. And that is the enlightenment. We've embraced this time...this day...this moment in our lives. We can't let the possility of either one of our dearest treasures not reach their dreams because we've wasted time mournng the kind of days we don't have.
Happy birthday, Ben! Dad, Mom, and Jessie are looking forward to the next three thousand six hundred and forty six days! Each of them one at a time.
Ben and Bennie are usually found romping about the pages of A Work of Art: Raising Our Excpetional Son.
Reader Comments (6)
I am honored...Ben and I share a birthday!
Happy birthday, sweet Ben! I hope it is a day filled with much happiness.
Happy Birthday, Ben! May your life be happy, peaceful and healthy. And all the best to your parents!
I love this post! Treasure it, savor it-the good and the not so great also. Happy Birthday, Ben!
Hi,
Your articles are very touching and full of emotions.You are right,the time is moving fast for them who like to see their loving same as past.But it's a life,everything happens here.
Happy Birthday Bennie!
Lovely post.
Take care!
Oh I remember this watch!.One of the best Swatch designs ever. They don't make things like this anymore.
So awesome that you wear this.
asthme