tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34178755.post2229354348094697254..comments2023-05-03T04:28:16.339-05:00Comments on <center>Jumping off cliffs</center>: What Thirteen Looks like from HereMary O. Paddockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097124493453341534noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34178755.post-91814563653309374862012-05-27T21:37:30.150-05:002012-05-27T21:37:30.150-05:00Hey! Thanks everyone. It did make me all misty, th...Hey! Thanks everyone. It did make me all misty, that's for sure.<br /><br />Scotty-It pleases me greatly that they all have the capacity to turn moments like this into wins. <br /><br />Hal--That "no baby left" thing--yeah. That one gets me too. Wait until he starts shaving. :)<br /><br />Jeanie--Thank you. They grow up so darned fast. I wish I could crystalize certain moments and reconstitute them later, you know?Mary O. Paddockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04097124493453341534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34178755.post-2193126722761843632012-05-25T16:11:42.677-05:002012-05-25T16:11:42.677-05:00Oh Mary - you got me! (that is what my sister and...Oh Mary - you got me! (that is what my sister and I say to each other when the tears come, not through sadness but an overwhelm of feeling)<br /><br />I am right at the other end, with a 12 year old daughter getting up to my height and surprising me with her maturity (and thus the intermittent adolescent flashes are even more stark)<br /><br />A beautiful moment captured.jeaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17322709527738134797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34178755.post-72600930396276780692012-05-24T22:05:33.355-05:002012-05-24T22:05:33.355-05:00I loved this, in all its bittersweet sensibility. ...I loved this, in all its bittersweet sensibility. I wonder about you and Gary going through your sons exiting childhood not one, but four times. Certainly, I think, it must be easier with only one.<br /><br />But then, there is only one. There is no baby behind him. <br /><br />Maybe, since your youngest is thirteen, we're in similar places. There is no baby behind your thirteen year old.<br /><br />I was nearly thirty-eight when I married for the first and hopefully last time. I remember in my single life feeling envious of female friends because they could cry. <br /><br />I cried more in the first five years of my son's life than I had in my entire adult life previously, and for many reasons.<br /><br />And now, I think about how I came home last time to find him as tall as his mom, and the screen gets kind of blurry.Hal Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350917997504370743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34178755.post-44961746265881977572012-05-11T18:00:33.604-05:002012-05-11T18:00:33.604-05:00Loved how an angry moment turned into laughs outsi...Loved how an angry moment turned into laughs outside amongst the boys - makes ya feel good, don't it? And I wouldn't worry too much about losing them as they grow up; mine are 29, 27, and 20 and they still need me on occasions.<br /><br />:-)Scottyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10532475769646281689noreply@blogger.com