Stops In Life That Make You Stop Many Years Later

​Thirteen years ago.

My boys playing catch with the Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman.

That this moment still shows up as such intense joy in my heart is a reminder that it is the emotions in stories that allow them to carry on through time. I don't remember exactly what my boys said that day or whether their tosses were on target or fell woefully short of Mr. Zimmerman glove, but I do remember the joy.

It was one of those moments this boy dad lived for as a dad.

Elliott will go back to college next week to start his second year at Virginia Tech. Ian will start his last year of high school just a couple of weeks later. Could I have even imagined those days would one day come when I was watching them play catch with a Major League Baseball all-star in 2013?

No.

Would I go back?

Hmm, that's tougher to answer, but also no.

I've written a lot lately—even spoke about it at a couple of events— just how much I some days grieve the passing of that particular phase of fatherhood. Few images could explain why that is more than these.

Two reasons, I suppose, why I move forward with that grief more than I stay stuck in it.

One, to go back in time to relive that moment as a dad is to wish my boys to go back into their childhoods. I've loved watching who they are becoming way to much to selfishly wish them back to what they once were.

As challenging as my life has been at times, I would never wish back my own childhood.

And two, old age and wisdom have taught me that life IS forward motion. Any attempts to slow down or thwart that natural rhythm of life never seem to work out well.

At least not for me.

So the best plan I have found, or learned, is to go with the flow of that forward momentum of life. Celebrate it.

Yet, be really grateful for pictures—for memories—that pop up to remind you that even though life never stops moving, there are some very cool 'stops' along the way.

Stops that make you stop many years later and simply say:

Thank you.