One Husband, Two Kids... And I'm Only Nineteen! + My Life, My Love, My Kids

35. Ten Years To The Day Since We First Became Parents (The Final Chapter)

Chapter Thirty-Five... Ten Years To The Day Since We First Became Parents (The Final Chapter)

We all hear the saying life passes by in the blink of an eye.

It's just one of those sayings that gets passed down through the generations and we manage to hear it often enough that we find ourselves saying it.

But today I had one reason to think that saying repetitively in my head. For my eldest child Rebecca Elizabeth, who'd been called Becca from the day she was born, was turning ten years old. And my mind raced with everything that had happened on all of her birthdays.

It was hard to believe that I, a twenty-six year old woman, had been a mother for a whole decade!

Of course, I now had eight children, with Becca standing tall over her younger siblings. Not-so-little Addison would be seven in three weeks, which was just as hard to believe!

My kids were all ageing around me!

"Cam?" I said as I laid in bed early on the morning of Becca's tenth birthday. "Cam?"

"What is it?" he mumbled sleepily.

"I'm freaking out!" I gasped.

"About?" he muttered.

"About today," I breathed. "It's a big day for Bec, but it's also a big day for us! I mean, we're the parents of a ten year old now!"

"You're thinking way too much, Rose," he chuckled, finally opening his eyes.

"Am I?" I frowned. "Am I?!"

"I can remember ten years ago, when you held her in your arms for that first night, that you said you would look back on this day in ten years' time and remember it as the happiest and most monumental day of your life," he sighed.

"Well, it was," I admitted. "But we had four more days that were just as monumental since then. I mean, in ten years our eldest daughter will be twenty, Cam!"

"That's still ten years away," he chuckled. "Why are you getting so worked up?"

"In three years, Addy's gonna be ten," I muttered. "Then, eighteen months later, well, not quite that long, our triplets will be ten! Then it will be Emily, then the twins..."

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Calm down."

"I can't!" I cried. "I mean, Becca's grown up so much! So much has happened since she was born. Our lives have changed and our family has grown. Your brother died! I mean, how the hell does everything just change?!"

"You don't think that everyone's thinking the same? It's hard, I know. I mean, ten years ago you were a scared teenager in labour awaiting the birth of your first child. But today? Today you're a strong mother who has given birth to eight children, and seven of those were born naturally. In my eyes, you're an amazing person. You're a great mother, and the kids adore you. The girls all look like you, and they make me realise just how lucky I am to have you. The boys look like me, and I realise that I'm lucky to have all of you."

"A scared teenager? That's an understatement."

"Well, you were terrified. Not of giving birth, but that you'd be a bad mother. But honey, look. You're an amazing mother. Not every woman could do what you do every day and still keep that same beautiful smile on their face. You're a strong person who constantly doubts herself. And you shouldn't."