When our youngest son was three, I started a bedtime routine of tucking him in at night and doing “the piggy toes.”
In fact, his last words verbatim every night before went to to bed were these, “Dad, I love you, hug & kiss in bed, don’t forget to do the piggy toes.”
When all of our kids were still at home, we would wrestle on the floor. This sometimes looked like me wrestling all four kids all at the same time.
I’d lay on top wrapping my arms around all four of them, and see how long I could keep them from getting up or out. It was intensely fun, and funny, and they always looked forward to it.
Charity and I used to wrap our kids in a big blanket, then hold both ends and spin them round and round like a roller coaster. Pure childhood joy and adrenaline.
Looking back, there are so many simple, fun things we did with our kids that I remember. Little things that made family life a childhood fun and enjoyable.
But do you know the one thing I don’t remember—the last time I did any of those things.
Yet, “the last time” happened with each of those things without me even knowing it would be the last time.
I haven’t done “the piggy toes” on Shane for many years now (he’s 15, so that would be interesting if I tried). But there was a “last time,” and at the time, I didn’t even know it.
I probably couldn’t wrestle any of my kids to the floor now if I tried, but there was a “last time” that I tried, whether I remember it or not.
My reminder for you today is simply this. As they grow, there will be a “last time” for almost everything—a last time to ever pick up and hold your child, tuck them in bed, kiss them goodnight, wrestle with the on the floor.
There will be a last time for every good thing that God blesses you with in your kid’s childhood (on an exciting note, these lasts will also be the beginning of many “firsts”, cue: driving, dating, etc.)
If your kids are still young, don’t let this discourage you. Rather, let in encourage you to make the most of every moment. Because one day, that moment will become a beautiful memory. That moment will become your last.
“In the happiest of our childhood memories, our parents were happy. too.” -Robert Brault
