Growing Old Quickly

I can't resist posting one more piciture of some of my grandkids--but this is them at their angelic best, which only lasts for moments. Front to back are Kegan (turns 3 in April), Jacob (turns 4 in June), and Morgan (turns 5 in August--can it be?).  Having most but not all of my grandchildren around last weekend brought home a big realization to me--how fast they outgrow childhood. Maddie, at ten, is truly a tween, more grown-up than child and a real mother to the little ones. She'll go to middle school next year, which I find unbelievable--and worrisome, with all kinds of new social threats out there. Even with Edie turning seven this week, their mom says there are no more dolls in their house--they've outgrown that phase. Although Maddie did call and ask me to send the teddy bear she left behind. And I think that phase passed too quickly--I'm still getting American Girl catalogs urging me to buy dolls, and for a while an outfit for her American Girl doll was a real treat to Maddie. But I can't complain--now it's books, and I love it that she's a reader. Her sister is an artist, but headed also toward veterinary medicine--she loves animals.

Kegan is the baby of them all, and yet look at him--grown up, independent, stubborn. Sure, he and Jacob still have their crying fits occasionally, but they're well on their way to becoming self-contained individuals.

Morgan seems to lapse into tears less often and is over, pretty much, the possessiveness about toys.
But if they're growing older so fast, what's happening to us as adults? I can't believe I'm 71, although I did "use" it today. The Fed Ex man came with a package I'd been waiting for since yesterday morning--a manuscript I'm editing with a tight deadline--but by the time I got to the door, he was driving away and had left what I thought was an attempted delivery notice. I immediately called Fed Ex and among my whiny complaints was the fact that I'm  71 and it takes me a bit to get to the door (which isn't true, but it's like having a doctorate--I only use it on desperate occasions). Turns out I had to eat crow--he had left the package, just not where I saw it instantly.
But I also can't believe that my oldest child is 40, almost 41, and my youngest now in her mid-thirties. Where did the time go. They were babies last time I looked. True, they're wonderful adults, and I adore their company, but I miss the days of childhood--and I miss the days of having baby grandchildren. We have no one in diapers now (except at night), which tells you something.
I truly believe that old saying--time flies when you're having fun. But at this rate, I'll be in my eighties before I know it. And my grandchildren will be grown. What a weird feeling.