You bought them when you first found out you were pregnant. It may have been one of the first items, actually, to hold all of the precious new clothes. The smallest ones in your household.

Do you remember that first newborn onesie you bought? It was one of your favorites. You couldn’t fathom you would soon hold something so small that would fit into that onesie. You washed all of the new clothing in preparation and hung them up in your baby’s closet.

You know the item. A miniature version of the ones in your closet. Baby hangers.

“Do we really need that many?” your spouse asks.

Yes, you may have bought too many. For your first baby. But they’d be put to use eventually. Over the years.

What you don’t anticipate, however, is how quickly they’ll grow. And that they’ll graduate from the baby hangers.

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That was years ago, when you bought those baby hangers. Though it seems like yesterday.

You first notice it with a set of new clothes you bought to fit your growing child. Putting the clothing away, you pop the neckline of a new shirt through the hanger. You watch as one side slowly slumps down, sliding off the plastic. The rest of the shirt grips to the crevice of the other side, ready to fall to the floor.

You stare at the new shirt on the baby hanger. Already?

The way that new shirt desperately clings to that little piece of plastic is familiar. You feel like that shirt sometimes—barely hanging on. Holding on to your baby who is now becoming their own little person. The one you have to remind to give you a hug and kiss goodbye before they run off for the bus.

It seems too soon, for them to graduate from the baby hangers. What’s next? High school?

It goes by in a flash, so you’re told. They say, “the days are long, but the years are short.” How true that is. These days can be very long.

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But . . . it seems like yesterday you were desperately trying to find that lost bink in the night. Where did the years go? You were just rocking that baby, who fit in one arm, to sleep.

The shirt drops to the floor, bringing you back to reality.

That was your baby. But now it’s your oldest, independent child. The one who used to seek your hand for comfort is now running 10 steps ahead of you.

And they’re graduating from the baby hangers.

Originally published on the author’s Facebook page