How Did We Get Here So Fast?

LIFESTYLE | Around the Kitchen Island (3)

This Friday, my son graduates from Grade 9.

I've known this day was coming for months, of course. It's been on the calendar, we've received the emails, and we've talked about what high school will look like next year. But now that it's actually here, I find myself wondering the same thing so many parents do when they reach a milestone like this: how did we get here so quickly?

I know every parent says it, but it genuinely feels like yesterday that he was starting kindergarten. Back then, the milestones felt easy to spot. There were first days of school, lost teeth, bike rides without training wheels, school concerts, and all of the moments that come with raising young kids. Somewhere along the way, though, the milestones became quieter and a little less obvious. They showed up in different ways.

This year, for example, he became taller than me. I knew it was coming, but that didn't stop me from feeling emotional when it happened. There was no ceremony or announcement, just a moment where I looked at him and realized that another chapter had quietly come and gone. Looking back, parenting seems to be full of moments like that. They often don't feel significant when they're happening, but somehow they become the memories we hold onto the most.

That's part of what makes graduations so emotional. We show up to celebrate the graduate, and rightly so. They've worked hard, they've grown, and they've reached an important milestone. But somewhere between the speeches, the photos, and the ceremony itself, parents inevitably start reflecting on the journey that brought everyone to that point.

I think about the years of lunches packed, practices attended, homework questions answered, and late-night conversations. None of those moments felt particularly remarkable at the time. They were simply part of everyday life. Yet when you look back, you realize those ordinary days were quietly building something extraordinary all along.

Maybe that's why graduation feels less like an ending and more like a pause. It's an opportunity to look back before looking ahead. To appreciate how much growth has happened, not just in our children, but in ourselves as parents too.

As excited as I am to see what comes next, this week has reminded me how important it is to appreciate the season you're in while you're living it. We spend so much time looking ahead to the next stage that it's easy to miss the beauty of the one we're currently experiencing. Then suddenly, you're sitting at a Grade 9 graduation wondering where the years went.

For those of you celebrating a graduate this year, whether it's kindergarten, junior high, high school, college, or university, I suspect you know exactly what I'm talking about. There is so much pride in watching them reach these milestones, but there's also a quiet recognition of how quickly time moves.

So this week, I'll be sitting in the audience cheering a little too loudly, taking too many photos, and probably trying harder than I'd like to admit not to cry. Because while this milestone belongs to my son, I think every parent understands that graduations have a way of feeling a little bit like ours too.

See you around the kitchen island,
Erika