No Thru Traffic

One of our friends, JJ, once told us this story about his family which has generated a catch phrase in our house. I'll retell it now, but I'm really not doing it justice. If you see JJ in Chicago, ask him to tell you this story--you'll be howling.
JJ's mother is a very proper, conservative woman. She was driving and JJ was in the car (he was already an adult, or nearly so). She merged on to a crowded, multi-lane highway from the far left. Upon merging, she realized that her exit was on the far right, but only a short distance away. As cars whizzed past, she of the trim gray hair and glasses, she of the tentative merging tactics, yells out, "we're dooooooomed!"
OK, it totally sucks in the retelling. JJ does it so much better with his pacing and imitation of his mother.
ANYhoodles. I looked at the calendar this morning to get an idea of the week ahead and realized that holy crap! it's the end of May! I am feeling a little like JJ's mom--in the fast lane, and speeding by exits.
Usually, I employ this forum to complain about how slow time is passing by. And true, on a day to day basis, the clock crawls. But this year is FLYING by. Just MetaphoricYesterday, I was looking forward to a trip to Toronto. And then complaining about our catastrophic trip to Montreal. And psyched for S's birthday. And dreading the end of school. And now, it's May. My birthday came and went. M's is coming up. Time is flying by. It's also possible that it's accelerating. That we're getting older faster. I will have a child in "real school" in the fall.
Looking ahead to this summer, it's only a few days until M's Dad comes for a visit, and then we're going to the beach for a few days, and then SoCal to visit my folks and then--poof!--that's it. Summer's gone.
But on a bigger scale, my baby S is growing up. I confess, I infantilize him more than I ever did E because I know he is my last baby. And buh-lee-heeve me, I would not want another for any amount of money. But he is so sweet at this age. The boys have two little ARR-TOO-DEE-TOO units from Star Wars. They're cute robots. Anyway, they have some sort of learning built into their computers and yesterday afternoon, they were both on and talking to each other. S thought it was cute, and last night, I walked into the den to find the units together, their little robot arms intertwined around a juice box. S thought they might be thirsty together. It was bittersweet, of course because he's old enough for the ARR-TOO, but young enough to make them a pretend picnic. And soon he will be in "real school" and then he and E will be grown and I will be old (ish) and then we will all die. (What? It's true.)
I try to soak up these moments of cuteness, to preserve them for times when I'm tempted to throttle the boys, and it's hard. I do cherish them, and there is not a night that goes by that I don't think I have the sweetest, cutest, most wonderful children on the planet (sorry, friends. It's true.) And part of me wants every day to creep by so I may savor every second. The other part, naturally, wonders why it isn't cocktail hour yet for God's sake.
But for whatever reasons, today, looking at that calendar, I felt I was going 70, turn signal flashin', nobody yielding. On a grand level, I hate to say it, but we're doomed.