“FLY!” That’s the word that “flew” into my head as my middle child was on the cusp of graduating from preschool.

While it may seem to be an insignificant milestone, compared to the many others that we, as parents or guardians will face in the years beyond that moment, at that moment, it was everything to me.

It’s not like he hadn’t been to “school” before. It’s not like I didn’t already have a mountain of art projects, teacher’s notes and conference data. It’s not like I had never entrusted his nurturing and growth to others in a classroom setting. So, what was the big deal?

After an in-depth analysis of what was sitting like a lump at the core of my being, it dawned on me that I wished I’d had a lasso to swing wildly over my head, to hurl towards his preschool years (and, perhaps, even prior to those days), capture them, and hold them close for just a bit longer.

Yes — it is the passage of time, my friends! Some days seem to last an eternity, and we may find ourselves wishing for that next hurdle to be crossed expeditiously. Until it IS. Then we begin to wonder how it happened so rapidly.

So, while each day might be filled with seemingly mundane “baby steps” when each of those 24 hours is combined with the next, and the next, and so on, we find that, in reality, time marches on more quickly than we ever thought possible. We find that we want to freeze it and remember every nuance of our child, at every stage of his or her life, as if it is something that we can secure in bubble wrap to protect and preserve.

Though the years may move more quickly than what we had expected or hoped, with every new step our children take, they are closer to that moment for which we raise them – to FLY! And that, as I look back to each phase of my children’s lives, is something to celebrate.