A very wonderful and wise woman from my church once said to me, “You don’t truly know the meaning of bittersweet until you’ve been a parent.” This statement has always stuck with me because it is so very true.

My little started preschool a couple of weeks ago. It was, well, bittersweet. It’s such a blessing to see him so excited to go to school, to see how much he’s grown physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, to get to say, “I helped make this child who he is, and who he’s going to be.” He’s a piece of me. It’s amazing.

But at the same time, I want to hit pause. I want to stop time, keep him little for just a while longer. And sometimes, I even want to hit rewind so that we can all go back and relive some of the precious moments of him and his brother’s younger years. But just for a while, because seeing them grow and flourish is just as exciting.

Unfortunately, we can’t go back, though. We can’t pause time. We can’t slow anything down. All we have is the here and now. All we can do is savor every single bittersweet moment right as it’s happening. We have to soak it up, enjoy it, and give them all the love, support and care we possibly can. Because we’re not just making our own bittersweet memories, we’re making theirs, too.