By Amy Keyes 
This is what it feels like to be the mom of a senior: Collecting every single moment and trying to soak it up, knowing how, all too quickly, those firsts become lasts.
Today, I watched with pride as my son ran his last high school section meet. The tears came easy. All of the beautiful memories streaming like a river down my cheeks. I beamed with pride as I looked back at how each mile of this journey brought my kid to this point. Knowing the strides he’s taken over these years of childhood have widened, arming him with confidence and determination, with resilience and purpose, with the tools he needs to soar in the years ahead as he builds a life of his own.
I chased the crowd as I watched him run after his dreams, pouring every ounce of his heart into what he knows will soon become the good old days that he will look back on with the same pang of nostalgia that so many of us do when we think of our youth.
And then I cried again. I always thought these days would last forever. Yet, here I am, the mom of a senior at the crossroads of disbelief and excitement, knowing it’s time for him to fly and also wanting to hit pause on the reality of what is to come in just a fleeting moment in time.
This year is teaching me more about living in the moment than probably anything else ever has. It’s tugging at every corner of my heart, pulling it in directions I didn’t know existed. I find myself staring up at a young man who has grown up before my eyes, and I don’t know how or when it even happened.
I always thought these days would last forever. Yet, here I am, the mom of a senior, trying desperately to soak up what’s left of our time as we know it, and also give space for the process of release.
I see it in the distance. The finish line that seemed so far away forever and now looms right around the bend. Coming faster than I ever thought. The marathon of these years that all of a sudden feels like a 5K. And it’s so beautiful and heart-aching all at the same time.
I always thought these days would last forever. Yet, here I am, the mom of a senior who is realizing they don’t. But, I know the next miles of the journey will be beautiful too—different, but beautiful. And I’m sure I will also always think those days will last forever too. And so I will breathe it all in because I know these days won’t last forever in time, but they will in my heart.
by Jennifer Kennedy 
by Tanya Teichroeb 
by Savannah Lyon 
