The Ripped Jeans

I was folding clothes tonight and I came across my son’s hole-in-the-knee jeans.  He wanted to wear them the other day to school and I told him he couldn’t wear ripped pants to school, but they were great for playing outside.  He was not happy about it, but he took them off and wore something else.  I took the ripped jeans and put them behind some towels in a closet.  I wanted to decide when he could and couldn’t wear them. 

Low and behold he had those darn things on the next day.  I asked where he found those jeans and he said he had LOTS of pairs with holes in the knee.  I tossed up my hands like “you got me”!  HA!  But then I stopped to think…I never had a 6-year-old SON before.  This must be one of those stages that they go through.  Just like not pronouncing R’s and asking “WHY” all the time.  I just had to deal with it.  

But tonight as I came across yet another pair of hole-in-the-knee jeans I suddenly had pangs in my heart and a lump in my throat thinking about how much I will miss those ‘hole-y’ pants someday.  I will wish for those 6-year-old days when all he wanted to do was play outside and rough house with the dog, throw a ball or just run around.  These are the moments that catch us and stop us in our tracks to realize that this time with our children is not ever-lasting.  In actuality, it is a very short time we have with them.  How much do I really care about a ripped hole in the knee?  If I was old school I would put a patch on it and they would be like new, but I am not old school and I don’t sew.  

So today, when my 6-year-old came down the stairs dressed for school in yet another pair of ripped hole-in-the-knee jeans, I let it go…. I want to savor this stage before it is gone and I never see a ripped knee-hole again.  I know this is melodramatic, but all you moms out there know exactly what I’m talking about.  Take this stage or any other and it translates to the same thing.  Time moves us on and we need to do our best to live and breathe right now.