The Last Snowman
Iâm at that stage of life where Iâm starting to realize that some moments might be happening for the last time.
Yesterday, my middle son and I built a snowman :-). Yes, this 60-year-old doc's child comes out every now and then.
Fresh snow, quiet air, the kind of morning that feels suspended outside of time. Heâs graduated from college. His life is already pulling him westâŚtoward love, toward opportunity, toward whatever comes next. And as we packed snow between our hands, shaping it into something temporary and imperfect, I realized this might be the last time we do this together.
Not the last time weâll talk. Not the last time weâll laugh. Not the last time weâll see each other.
But the last time weâll build a snowman.
No one tells you how parenting changes. At first, itâs all beginnings. First steps. First words. First days of school. Youâre trained to look forward, always forward. And then, without warning, life quietly starts handing you endings instead. Not loud ones. Soft ones, often unannounced.
You donât get a notification that itâs the last time theyâll fall asleep on your shoulder. Or the last time youâll hold their hand crossing a street. Or the last time youâll all be living under the same roof.
You just live through them. And only later do you realize what they were.
I want my kids to move on. I want them to chase what calls them. I want them to build lives that are expansive, brave, and unmistakably theirs. Iâm proud of their independence. Proud of their curiosity. Proud of who theyâre becoming.
But pride doesnât erase grief.
It just lives beside it.
Iâm climbing whatâs been referred to as my Second Mountain now. The first was about building, proving, and accumulating. This one feels different, quieter, and far more deliberate. Itâs less about adding, more about distilling. Less about what I achieve per se, and more about what and who I carry forward.
And with that shift comes questions that donât always have clean answers.
Was I present enough? Did I listen well? Did I prepare them for what I couldnât protect them from? What did I miss while I was busy building everything else?
I donât know. Maybe no one ever really does.
Yesterday, we built a snowman.
But, for me, it wasnât really about the snowman. Well⌠maybe a little about the snowman.
But⌠It was about time. About becomingâŚ. and about letting go without letting love leave. About standing in that strange, tender overlap where past, present, and future all exist at once.
If that really was our last snowman, Iâm grateful I was there for it.
@KelliDPowers@jk_rowling 100% why should real women step aside for confused men? We are women & these men will not move into our space without a fight!!!
@AdamtrendHQ If we have to have a clear picture without any face covering in Canada then anyone entering Canada has to follow the same rules! If they don't like it they can go home.
@Victoria59L Carney = snake naturally have a spine that curves from side to side in an "S-shape," which is how they are able to slither, climb, and coil. Unlike humans snakes do not have testicles ("balls")
@GG37374104 100% Robin. They live a totally different life with standards in many cases far below what we do. I will not change my ways to make them feel better. We do not go into establishments owned & operated by "them" as cleanliness & food handling are well under acceptable standards.
@Read_Meee As a Mom who is turning a big number this week & the one thing that we wish for is to hear from our kids on our B day. Just 2 words & 1/2 a min. We understand our kids are busy because we were also. I never waited until after school to wish my kids a Happy Birthday did your Mom?
@CoryBMorgan Talk about making themselves look like the grifters that they are! Why can't everyone understand that we all get a vote! It's not rocket science it's democracy in action. The chiefs need to clean up their own backyard, so many of FN's still suffering is on the backs of the chiefs