Some hit the pause button, please...

In the movie "Click", Adam Sandler's character (Michael Newman) is "gifted" with a universal remote control that allows him to fast-forward and rewind through tough stretches in life, but somehow the remote gets a mind of its own and makes those choices for him.

While that Hollywood plot is a bit far-fetched, I'm in a part of my life where it seems like the fast forward button is stuck as I rapidly roll through my middle years. Now this is great for someone like me who hates winters, but when you have three kids you love spending time with it can be somewhat of a downhill ride on the Bummer Slide.

Just the other night, the family was spending a rare evening together watching a movie in the living room and at one point where the on-screen plot got a little slow I slowly scanned over to the couch where my kids were sitting. I was struck with a moment of harsh reality how far the three little ones Teresa and I uprooted a little more than five years ago to move here to St. Peter have come in that time.

It's easy to understand why life seems to be flying by at a jackrabbit's pace as you get older. When you're a kid, a year seems like such a long time because, let's face it, 365 days is a significant portion of your lifetime. As you age, years fly by like months used to and days...pfft...there goes one now!

I hear it progresses even quicker from here on out.

If someone has a way to slow time down, let me know, otherwise I'll continue on the treadmill of life with the speed and incline going up a notch with each passing year.

When my oldest was born (March 11, 1998), I had numerous parents of teens come up and tell me, "Enjoy it, because they they grow up fast,". Unfortunately that concept is hard to grasp when you're sitting there with this helpless little bundle of joy in your arms trying to fathom all the diaper changing, bottle feedings, burpings, bath times that await you on the trek down Parent Parkway in the years ahead. Making it even more difficult at that time was the fact we knew we wanted more than one child, so I kind of just dismissed their words with a smile and a "Whatever" under my breath.

Little did I realize how right they were. I haven't changed a diaper in nearly 4 years or mixed a bottle of formula in longer than that and for a period of time there it seemed as if there was no end in sight for either.

But, without much fanfare, except maybe a collective sigh when the youngest got weaned off the bottle and then potty trained, the feedings and changings stopped. I'd be a glutton for punishment if I said I missed them, but every once in a while I still wish the kids were still that small.

Nonetheless, I'm still in my early 40s and have a lot more time ahead of me yet to worry about the pace of life. Hopefully I don't get preoccupied with time passing me so much that I forget about the time right in front of me.

Such is life for a early middle-aged man.