Time Goes By

Throughout the past 17 years, our family has been blessed to take several family vacations and have enjoyed life as a family of four. We have visited many different vacation destinations from beaches to mountains, to multiple states, and more beaches. Despite the destination, the biggest take away from any vacation are the memories that we have made during each and every adventure. Over the years it did not occur to me how fast time would go as we were trying to soak every moment of our vacations in. But here we are, and both of our girls are now in high school. Even more mind blowing, our oldest Kamryn is preparing for her next big adventure in life as she will head off to college later this year. In hindsight, I wish I would have kept a journal and noted all of the special memories we made on each trip that we have taken over the years to lock in those moments in writing. In the blink of an eye, 17 years have flown by and time is not slowing down, not even a little.

When the girls were little, we were intentional about making memories as a family and we knew that going places and seeing new things would be a priority for us. Our first big family vacation was to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We packed up and drove 14 hours for a week on the sandy beaches of the Gulf. We made a bucket full of memories in Alabama over the years and it became one of our favorite vacation destinations until we gave camping a try. In 2013, we changed things up and we invested in our first camper. With our camper in tow, we spent many of our weekends camping as a family which provided endless hours of family fun. Whether it was playing whiffle ball, throwing frisbees, or spending time around the camp fire, we had no problem laying our phones down, saying "no" to the distractions of social media to make more new memories. As our camping trips started dwindling down over the years due to the girls becoming busier and the schedule filling up with the chaos of their interests, we quickly realized the value of these times together and the memories made were priceless. We started camping less but we were more intentional about going with friends when the opportunities presented themselves. Camping at Pomme de Terre lake with our friends, who we call our camping family, has become a yearly tradition for us and has taken the top spot as our favorite camping weekend which we look forward to the most. Some of our favorite family memories were made with these friends, and continue to be made on our weekend camping trips.

In the spring of 2023, I was working to prepare my fall food plots for the upcoming deer season. Those who know me best know I love bow hunting and I value the time I get to spend strapped in a tree stand with my bow in hand. But that day working the dirt, it hit me like a ton of bricks that my time with family had to be my greatest priority during that 2023 deer season. This hard-hitting reality was evident at that point in time - that soaking in the moments and making as many memories as possible with my family before Kamryn moves onto the next chapter of her life had to be at the top of the list. As a man who loves to hunt, it is sometimes a jagged pill to swallow when you realize hunting has to be laid down for a season and that was certainly the case at this stage of life. Lord willing, there will be plenty time for hunting in the future when both girls are off to college chasing their dreams in a few short years, making new memories of their own.

Here in the midst of taking in Kamryn's senior year of high school and enjoying all of the "lasts" that seem to accompany it, Lainey started her first year of high school and is going strong. Ever since she was little, she had the passion and drive to be a cheerleader and over the past few years, she has worked hard to achieve her dream of being on the high school cheer squad. She didn't waste any time as her hard work paid off and she made it happen this year as a freshman. I love watching her do what she loves to do and working hard to do her best at it. Cheerleading is her "sport". As much as I joke with her that it isn't really a sport, she still loves it as much as any ball player loves being on the court. It makes me proud to watch her work hard at not only being a good cheerleader but a great student too.

The reality of the matter is simple, time goes by. It goes by in a hurry not waiting for anyone or anything. For us, as Kamryn moves through her senior year and as Lainey wraps up her freshman year, it reminds me that life is far too short and it's ok to have to restructure life sometimes in certain seasons. Its not just okay, but necessary to move priorities around because in the long run, you don't get those years back. The memories matter and as time goes by you begin to understand you can't go back and make more so you better make them now. Until next time, happy hunting and keep making memories.