The Hourglass.



When Laurie and Stephen and Ron and I have a day or evening together, one of our favorite things to do is to play a game of Rummikub. Of course since the kids have a little more experience playing it, Ron and I usually lose. But it's so much fun - kind of like playing rummy, building runs and sets on the table with the small tiles that you keep on a little rack in front of you. Stephen is really good at this - he changes the tiles all over the place just to pick out one little tile to make up a small run or set of three. And I get all excited about something I think I can do with the changes he has made, only to have the tiles changed by someone else before my turn comes along (or else I forget what changes I was going to make once it's my turn....yup, more than likely, it's that).
And to make sure that we don't go beyond the 2 minute time limit, a little hourglass comes with the game. Twice the sands run through this hour glass to give you time enough (are you kidding me?) to finish your turn; and once Stephen turns the hourglass, I start to panic knowing that my time is almost up.
This summer kind of reminds me of that game - at least the hourglass part of it. We thought when we got here that we would be able to see the kids much more often. Hours - theirs and ours - kind of prevent that. I am not complaining about our jobs at all - it's a wonderful opportunity to enjoy CO without needing to worry about camping expenses. And just to know that we are so close to the kids is a blessing we haven't ever had for such a long period of time.
But the sands seem to be going far too quickly through this hourglass called summer. Maybe it's because we are getting older - could this be? Yes, it could be. Or maybe it's just that old adage about time flying when you are having fun.
Whatever it is, we are looking at Stephen's deployment in the not too distant future. And the sands are running too quickly. But if they are running this quickly for us, we can only imagine how much faster they are running for Laurie and Stephen.
Of course they look at things differently - as the military often do, especially military families where both husband and wife are military. They don't look too far into the future but rather enjoy each day as it comes. They understand that plans are necessary, but all of that is secondary to the time they have together to just enjoy life.
Thankfully, Kasey is blissfully unaware of how fast the days go - they are all made for preschool, and play and the adventures of little boys. He just trusts that mommy and daddy, (and grandma and grandpa) will take care of him.
Ron and I are so thankful that God has given us the good health and the blessing of being able to do this.
No matter how many times the hourglass needs to be turned.
God bless our troops and those who love them.