A Blog Time Capsule, and Making the Best of Every Moment in Life

Here we are as a family in Florida over spring break, this past spring (2013)

A few days ago, my mom discovered a journal she penned when we were at Charcoal Delights, a restaurant in north Chicago when I was 26 months-old. That means this is from 1996! I figured it might be kind of fun to feature it as a blog time capsule and then throw in some of my own thoughts.

I'm in a hurry... Why? I want to get going. I am having lunch with a 26-month-old Jack. But the thought keeps occurring to me... Some day when you are old, grey and alone, you will long for this day... the fellowship of a yellow-haired boy who wants "I dream" (ice cream). Now he is plunging his spoon into the dish and saying "Oh" with each plunge just like the huge machine digging holes on Green Bay Road at the Central Street train station. The repeated "Bam" of the "Dies" (guys).

His eyes are like playful pools- they don't look at me- they are taking in the traffic on the street outside the window of "The Pit". Now he is leaning heavily on the table. Fatigue is setting in. I hope he doesn't fall asleep in the car or his nap will be ruined. Now he's chewing his straw.  A paper napkin is tucked handily into his white turtleneck which is still clean, amazingly after eating a hot dog with ketchup.

Two is an adorable age- I am in it now. I wish we could continue to progress but be able to call back a time and live in it for a while. The folded straw has now become a spoon. Why am I so obsessed with keeping everything clean?

On my right sleeps peacefully 11-week-old Tim, still in his green plaid rugby outfit. His red pacifier works as if he is a rabbit.

-Eleanor Vita, or as I like to call her, my wonderful mother


So thank you Mom! I love you so much and I was touched by your love for your kids. This journal brought me to tears the first time I read it. There is a lot of wisdom in this- mainly enjoying life as it comes and cherishing every moment. Believe it or not, the age you are right now, you will only be for 365 days, and then you're on to something else. I thought a ton about this when I was a senior in high school. For a while I couldn't wait for the year to be over, so that I could move on to other things. But I reached a certain point where I realized that there wasn't a whole lot of high school left, I thought of all the things I would miss, and decided I might as well enjoy it while it was there. From that point on, it became the best year of my life, for many reasons. I realized that one day I would miss it. I miss it today. This past year I spent a lot of time missing high school. But it isn't time for me to lament over the things I've lost and get wrapped up in old memories, but instead to create some new memories now.

So here we are now. Seventeen years later. That little yellow-haired boy graduated high school a year ago, and is going away to college in less than a month. That 11 week-old snoozing baby is going to be starting his senior year of high school in just a few weeks. And Laura, our little sister who wasn't even born until over two years after this journal was written, graduated from Christian Heritage Academy and will be starting high school soon herself.

It is a little sad to think that we're so much more grown up now. But we can't get too wrapped up in that. Because if we do, we miss the point. We miss what we learn from missing the old days. As we all enter in to a new chapter in our lives, it's hard to believe, but one day that new chapter will be in the past. And we will one day miss that.

So what is the solution? Make the most of every day and every moment. Think about all the great things you have around you today. While it may unfathomable, what if someone that is close to you moves away, or much worse, passes away? They say you never know what you got till it's gone. So let's the make the most of every moment. Don't blink. 'Cuz time won't slow down.