Joyce Maynard compares nurturing children to launching toy boats: "We lower them gently, run along the bank aways...even get them unstuck a time or two...Then they'll be off, toward some distant and unknown destination, while we stand on the shore waving and cheering and watching them go." In talking recently with some long-time friends, we found ourselves saying, "Where has the time gone?" Remember when birthdays meant a homemade birthday cake, matching tablecloth, napkins and plates and an afternoon at Cobb Park? Remember when summer was long, hot days broken by a short weekend in the cold Comal River in New Braunfels where our kids collected beer cans off the bottom of the river for pocket change? Remember when our kids played on the stage at Minter Lane after services, climbing up and jumping off, climbing up and jumping off, climbing up and jumping off? Remember when Labor Day meant a cook-out at Abilene State Park where fireflies lit the trees after dark and our kids tramped in and out of the small stream near by? But now these children are off to their destinations of worship leader, physical therapist, mothers and fathers. And we are standing on the bank waving, cheering and watching them go. Oh, Lord, help us to count our remaining days and give them to you as we have given you our children.
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