Alyssa's Visit

Alyssa was home for about 10 days. It is strange to me how sometimes when she comes home I feel like we are never home, yet I feel like we did not get to do enough with her. She started her first day of college today. I am so excited and proud of her. This visit was different to me in the way that she SEEMED like a college student. I think this is first visit were I realized that she is an adult. Alyssa was about 7 when Jeff and I started dating and now she is in college. It made me realize just how fast our lives can pass us by. I remember our first Christmas as a family when we had to put jello out for the deer and cookies for Santa. Jeff had to make hoof marks in the jello with a spoon. I remember when Alyssa missed her first school dance because she was here in NY so we got out disco lights, set up a snack bar, invited her cousins (the girls), and blasted music in the front room singing and dancing until very late so she could still go to a "dance". I remember the first time she told her father about a boy at school she liked and her father throwing the phone to me. (Actually he still does that LOL). I remember Alyssa and I sweeping the kitchen, each singing to the top of our lungs in to the broom handles. Then came the teenage years. All I can say is drama. They are such hard years for a teenage girl. I remember the boyfriend she wasn't aloud to date and the many late night calls upset about it. I remember the 16th birthday when we rented a stretch hummer limo and embarrassed her so badly she walked home from school early so we could not pick her up. She eventually came around and had a great time. I remember her first car. . .and her first accident. Those mailboxes come out of no where. I remember her graduation and remember the lengthy debate on what college to go to. And now here she is, starting college. I want to remember all the little things . I want to push the "slow motion" button to slow it all down. Its times like these that make me take a moment to realize what a wonderful family, step-daughter I have been blessed with. Sometimes life goes so fast we forget to take that moment to appreciate how great life can be.