Love Your Family
Southern Mama: Time Marches On By: Phillicia Ritch
A character in one of my favorite movies, Steel Magnolias said,“ Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it’ s marchin’ across your face.” I think it would have been better if she had said,“ Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it’ s marchin over your heart.” Maybe face was right. Lord knows I seem to cry at the drop of a hat these days. I am at the stage in my life where I have one with learner’ s license and one studying for the driver’ s test. All the milestones are going by so quickly, that it is hard to breath at times. These high school years have been hard on this Mama’ s heart! All of this windshield time has turned my thoughts back a few years to the car seat age. I miss those days dearly. I would buckle them up, put their sippy cups in the cup holder, and a bag of snacks or toys in between them on the seat. Away we would go on errands or a road trip. My children always loved music. They would sit in the back singing at the top of their little lungs. Southern Rock, Country, Praise and Worship music, it did not matter to them. It did not matter if they knew the right words. They would just make the words up as they went. My son knew every word to, Drift Away by the Doobie brothers. He would sing,“ Give me the Beat Boys to free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock ' n roll and drift away Oh. Give me the Beat Boys to free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock ' n roll and drift away” He would smile and wave at all the people listening to him when we would stop at the red lights. You would have thought he was on stage with a grand audience. LOL! A. J. also loved the Garth Brooks song Two Pina Coladas. However, he thought the lyrics were 2 pink koalas. We had recently taken him to the zoo where he had seen koala bears for the first time. He also loved pirates because of the movie Peter Pan. He would sing,“ I set sail with Captain Hook to never, never, land Any troubles I forgot ' em I buried ' em them with Peter Pan.” My daughter who seldom spoke loved to sing. She loved the song, Baby Girl by Sugarland. Kaitlin rarely remembered the words to songs but she would hum or babble in tune incoherently when it came on the radio. One particular morning her Daddy had joined me to run errands. My daughter chose that morning to sing a portion of the lyrics. She sat in the car and in the sweetest most precious little voice you ever heard sang,“ Well, remember me in ribbons and curls I still love you more than anything in the world. Love, Your baby girl.” She melted my husband’ s heart that day! One day my little incoherent singing baby girl embarrassed me half to death. Kids have knack for doing that! I was taking my son to school. I was in the car rider line. Every day the teachers would be there to open the car door to allow a child to exit the vehicle in safety. I was paying attention to the teacher directing traffic and was not paying attention to the song on the radio. The song was Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson. I pulled up to the designated area to let my son out. The teacher opened the door. My babbling little princess chose that moment to developed perfect linguistic skills. She pumped her little fist in the air, while simultaneously throwing her Disney Princess sparkly pink sippy cup at the back of my head, and yelled,“ Hell Yeah!” There were 5 teachers there and every one of them heard her perfectly. I was so embarrassed. A. J. was mortified and said,“ Sissy, noooooo! You cannot sing that part.” The teachers were laughing hysterically. I drove off red from shame and embarrassment. Time is marching on and it is definitely marching over my heart. They are no longer safely buckled into their car seats. They are in the driver’ s seat. I ask God daily to place his hand of protection on them. I cannot help but grow nostalgic as I watch them turn into the person God created them to be. He has a plan and purpose for their life. He allowed me the privilege and honor of nurturing and guiding them. At this point in their lives,“ My mouth is yelling, brake, brake, brake!” because they still cannot get the timing right to stop correctly at an intersection but that is not them only screaming“ brake!” My heart is shouting it, too.