{"id":448,"date":"2018-05-25T14:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T14:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/katrina.effexhost.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/25\/where-did-the-time-go\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T01:00:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T01:00:29","slug":"where-did-the-time-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/25\/where-did-the-time-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Did the Time Go?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEii2NKFdzWpW__MNiry8Xow8E6BIgi_kZgqolaDvjvdZYlo9jjpTjAwtuaV3a7n4ukDasNIvjt64UP5v-aLOasNdLeCRHWP_QMiKD8ikNrmbYrmMJG9T_2s-H5gjvb89GvoM97-TLPmxnQX\/s1600\/Cap18.1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEii2NKFdzWpW__MNiry8Xow8E6BIgi_kZgqolaDvjvdZYlo9jjpTjAwtuaV3a7n4ukDasNIvjt64UP5v-aLOasNdLeCRHWP_QMiKD8ikNrmbYrmMJG9T_2s-H5gjvb89GvoM97-TLPmxnQX\/s1600\/Cap18.1.jpg\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"238\" data-original-width=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been looking at my screen for probably ten minutes, trying to find the words to say what&#8217;s in my heart this morning. This morning of my oldest son&#8217;s high school graduation. I never imagined that I&#8217;d be one of those moms who had to fight tears just seeing her son in his cap and gown, but here I am. I am totally one of those moms and I&#8217;m not ashamed to admit that.<\/p>\n<p>You see, just over 18 years ago, when my tiny 5 pound 6 ounce baby boy came into this world, I never thought the years would fly by as fast as they have. It feels as if I just closed my eyes for a moment and here we are. When I was a young mom, I&#8217;d chuckle to myself when people would tell me this would happen. How could 18 years go by in the blink of an eye? Yet somehow they have.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve watched this tiny baby grow up into a young man who is taller than I am. I&#8217;ve watched him take on every challenge life has handed him head on. I&#8217;ve watched him make friends and then realize that not everyone will be nice to you. I&#8217;ve sat back and watched while he dealt with bullying because he needed to know how to advocate for himself, even though I wanted to go up to the kids and shake them. I&#8217;ve watched him make what I think will be lifelong connections. I&#8217;ve watched him go from one grade level to the next, watched him make that transition to high school, and now I get to watch him graduate with a diploma.<\/p>\n<p>When he was younger, I was warned that him graduating with a diploma might not be possible. His disabilities may prevent it. Instead, I watched him work hard. I watched as he would go over things and then go over them even more to try to do his best. I watched as he took his love of sports that he couldn&#8217;t play and turn it into 4 varsity letters for managing the very sports that he loves. Ben will never be one to be happy sitting on the sidelines. He&#8217;s a fighter. He&#8217;s a hard worker. He&#8217;s one great guy and I&#8217;m so proud to be his mom.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know how this&#8230;<\/p>\n<table style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhIiS2JCVfka7FIG_y2CN1aXiy1W7tnKMM5Me5z0-7a0oHpzFEh5denTOCe1IOCJCBoxD0ann8vKPxD8TesDJy8PaZFqq0K0hdSjfhPr3BK8IHSzoWK7as9I3GFYj6_LGEDGXewB8YeTVyQ\/s1600\/33232496_10212830374491015_8797788915814629376_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhIiS2JCVfka7FIG_y2CN1aXiy1W7tnKMM5Me5z0-7a0oHpzFEh5denTOCe1IOCJCBoxD0ann8vKPxD8TesDJy8PaZFqq0K0hdSjfhPr3BK8IHSzoWK7as9I3GFYj6_LGEDGXewB8YeTVyQ\/s320\/33232496_10212830374491015_8797788915814629376_n.jpg\" alt=\"Ben Roets - Katrina Roets - Graduation 2018\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"480\" data-original-width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">Ben at an Early On party.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>went to this&#8230;<\/p>\n<table style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgO-Au3VwCSI6nmeowpR9wQCJcFoJ9Oe23IqarBUwH96UZ0YYYMu-6v928ulqHxZ9M2WeOj_U2QrBz8JdYWth3EXG-vHt5X-I38yFV1d1kkRr5W_rf6B-rrHJXH1pDb6cizZZ9CL4otpPNU\/s1600\/14102278_10210497648576706_4661414717848901621_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgO-Au3VwCSI6nmeowpR9wQCJcFoJ9Oe23IqarBUwH96UZ0YYYMu-6v928ulqHxZ9M2WeOj_U2QrBz8JdYWth3EXG-vHt5X-I38yFV1d1kkRr5W_rf6B-rrHJXH1pDb6cizZZ9CL4otpPNU\/s320\/14102278_10210497648576706_4661414717848901621_n.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"960\" data-original-width=\"720\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">Ben joined the Varsity Football team in 2016!<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.8px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.8px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>and now to this&#8230;<\/p>\n<table style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEi-x2_yOtnOl-CuajILuWtHpIKevLrAfR-4VWAFnwKp_qYaJNtCq0q3zstuYQa8JltceoQZcTTq1ca8BRZXJf5ezEvgMLCwC7KPA7zbzmsca2f31d5x4Fof0Ryk4L3z3DaMjgFHZmGrTdqL\/s1600\/20180511_094829.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEi-x2_yOtnOl-CuajILuWtHpIKevLrAfR-4VWAFnwKp_qYaJNtCq0q3zstuYQa8JltceoQZcTTq1ca8BRZXJf5ezEvgMLCwC7KPA7zbzmsca2f31d5x4Fof0Ryk4L3z3DaMjgFHZmGrTdqL\/s320\/20180511_094829.jpg\" alt=\"Ben is graduating!\" width=\"180\" height=\"320\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1600\" data-original-width=\"900\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">Ben at the 2018 Senior Breakfast.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>But somehow it&#8217;s happened and while 18 years is, in theory, a long time, I wouldn&#8217;t go back and change one single moment of being his mom. Congratulations, Ben! I hope you know just how proud of you I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been looking at my screen for probably ten minutes, trying to find the words to say what&#8217;s in my heart this morning. This morning of my oldest son&#8217;s high&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2085,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/2085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithkatie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}