Our youngest lovely comes home every Wednesday night from her house downtown with several of her college buddies to eat a home cooked meal. I spend the entire day preparing a healthy offering and look forward to their arrival. The Husband and I truly enjoy these Wednesday night gatherings and we wonder where the time has gone.

The amount of time between beginning our family and the lovelies being grown up and out on their own was jet propelled. I’ve never had time pass by so quickly. And it wasn’t just a year or two. There was at least one lovely at home for a quarter of a century. How did it happen that I woke up one morning only to discover that they were old enough to be out on their own?

Was I too busy? Was I not paying attention? Were my eyes closed? Well, I was busy but not too busy. I was paying attention and my eyes were wide open. I know this because I have at least a GAZILLION memories of every waking second of that quarter century.

So, how is it that it’s all over so soon?

You know when you look out the passenger side window going about 70 mph how the trees clip by so fast you get dizzy accompanied by a bit of nausea? That’s how raising the lovelies seems to me now. Fast. Speedy quick. Over in a flash.

Didn’t DoodleBug just give herself a really bad haircut this year? Didn’t Breezy just get that fish keychain stuck on her finger last week? Didn’t Birdie just yesterday climb up the closet organizers before she was walking? Didn’t Deanie just dance in the Nutcracker last Christmas?

Shouldn’t I be exhausted from all the chauffeuring to and from 100 different places all at once? Don’t I need to get up early tomorrow morning and prepare breakfast before school for four sleepy headed daughters and one hard working husband? Isn’t it my turn for driving the carpool? Don’t I have to be at school for volunteering? Shouldn’t there be projects cluttering up the dining table? Where are those mounds of laundry that need washing and drying before tomorrow morning? Wait, what about that book report? Soccer practice? Softball? A piano lesson?

No. None of that anymore. There hasn’t been any of it for three years now. Looking back, I should probably still be tired and trying to recuperate from all the busy-ness of raising the lovelies. I should be enjoying this time at home. But, the fact is, I can’t find one single thing to do that fills my time with as much fun and enjoyment as raising a family did.

No, I’m not one of those moms who suffers depression when the kids grow up and leave the nest (and thankfully so because I’ve seen how devastating this can be). On the contrary. I couldn’t be more proud that each of the lovelies went to college and have made an independent life for themselves. I’m just one of those moms who is still trying to find ways to fill the between hours.

You know, the hours between children and grandchildren—

It’s nights like Wednesdays that keep us going…