Lasts

I know my posts are too long sometimes but bear with me. This one is worth it.

I am really into Karen Kingsbury right now. One of the story lines in the book I just finished is about a couple whose son is about to marry. The night before their son's wedding, the couple is discussing how they had records of all their children's "firsts" but no pictures/records of their children's "lasts." For example, one day, their son jumped into her arms and gave her flowers for the last time. She says, "I took no pictures, threw no party, made no note of it...We simply moved on to another stage of life and never looked back...Our children's growing up years were full of lasts, and I never knew it." She talks about the saying, "A daughter's a daughter for life...a son's a son 'til he takes a wife." (I don't like that.)

So, she writes this poem as a letter to her son on his wedding day.

"Long ago you came to me, a miracle of firsts...
First smiles and teeth and baby steps, a sunbeam on the burst.
But one day you will move away and leave to me your past,
And I will be left thinking of a lifetime of your lasts.

The last time that I held a bottle to your baby lips...
Last time that I lifted you and held you on my hip...
Last time when you had a binky stuck inside your mouth...
The last time that you crawled across the floor of this old house.

Last time when you ran to me, still small enough to hold,
Last time when you said you'd marry me when you grew old.
Precious, simple moments and bright flashes from the past.
Would I have held you longer if I'd known they were the last?

Your last few hours of kindergarten, last days of first grade...
Last at bat in Little League, last colored paper made.
Last time that I tucked you in for one last midday nap...
Last time when you wore your beat-up Green Bay Packers cap.

The last dark night you slipped in bed and slept between us two,
When last I read to you of God or Horton Hears a Who!
Last that that I smelled your hair and prayed after your shower...
Last time that we held devotions in the evening hours.

Last piano lesson, and last soccer goal you kicked...
The last few weeks of middle school, last flowers that you picked.
Last time that you needed me for rides from here to there...
The last time that you spent the night with that old tattered bear.

Last time that I helped you with a math or spelling test,
Last time when I shouted that your room was still a mess.
Time and life moved quicker, taking pieces of your past.
Would I have stretched the moments if I'd known they were the last?

I watched you grow and never noticed seasons as they passed.
I wish I could've frozen time to hold on to your lasts.
For come tomorrow morning life will never be the same,
You'll pledge forever to your girl and she will take your name.

And I will watch you, knowing God has blessed you with this day.
I never would have wanted, Son, to somehow make you stay.
They say a son's a son until he takes for him a wife.
You're grown-up now; it's time to go and start your brand-new life.

One last hug, one last good-bye, one quick and hurried kiss...
One last time to understand just how much you'll be missed.
I'll watch you leave and think how quickly childhood sped past.
Would I have held on longer if I'd known it was your last?"

Apparently, KK turned this poem into a children's picture book called Would I Have Held on Longer?

Good night. I gotta go hug my boys.