Sunrise, Sunset

I’ve had the song “Sunrise, Sunset” in my head all morning. You know the song:

“Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don’t remember growing older
When – did – they?

When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they – were – small?

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days”

Anyways, the song is catchy, but there is a bitter reason I have it in my head. I found myself having to catch my breath when my son walked into the kitchen this morning after stumbling out of bed. He’s a couple of inches taller than me! Of course, I’ve known this for a few months and he reminds me of this fact every day, but for some reason it knocked the breath out of me this morning. He’s so proud of the fact that he is taller than his mom now. I remind him just as often that I am still his mom and he still has to listen to me no matter how much taller than me he gets. I seldom mention that it’s not much of a feat that he’s taller than my 5’2’’ stature because he couldn’t be more proud of himself.

After giving him a hug “Good Morning” and holding back a little tear (he will just laugh at me and roll his eyes if I cry), I started humming “Sunrise, Sunset” for some reason. My mom exposed my sister and I to all kinds of old musicals when we were too young to want to object and I still love watching them to this day if I get a chance. While mixing up some biscuit dough for breakfast, my humming led my mind to another little point that made me a bit regretful: I don’t think my kids have seen Fiddler On the Roof. Hum, it’s going to be too hot to do anything outside this afternoon. Maybe I’ll drag out the old VHS and expose them to some culture. I’ll probably enjoy it while folding some laundry on the couch and they’ll probably break out the laptop and tablet, but at least I will have tried. “Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset….”