{"id":2084,"date":"2020-08-19T01:31:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T08:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2021-01-19T01:43:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T08:43:09","slug":"sweetness-follows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/?p=2084","title":{"rendered":"Sweetness follows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My boy turns 16 today. As in years. Sixteen years old. Today. I have a sixteen year old. Me. I have a sixteen year old son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-26.jpg\" alt=\"Big Ryland \" class=\"wp-image-2289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-26.jpg 710w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-26-463x600.jpg 463w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-26-116x150.jpg 116w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a parent is such a strange thing. I am full of memories. They drown me every day. There&#8217;s just so many moments. so many remembered. so many forgotten. It&#8217;s always hard, but it&#8217;s easier when they&#8217;re younger. everything comes at you so fast, everything is new, everything is a first. you live at the speed of light. No time to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then they get older. They get older and you get older. everything slows. you can finally see now. you are a bridge between what was and what will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>it&#8217;s lonely being a parent. Lonely being the curator of all these memories. Always. Always. It&#8217;s in the pictures. the turn of a wrist. In a smile. A smell. In the light of a slow afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"859\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27.jpg\" alt=\"Little Ryland \" class=\"wp-image-2290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27.jpg 859w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27-600x524.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27-150x131.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-27-768x671.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One day he&#8217;s driving this tiny toy car and you think it will last forever. But you blink. and now it&#8217;s the day where you get to give him his first real car. and you realize&#8230; his memories are separating from yours. They have been for awhile of course, but on this day, it feels even more pronounced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"904\" height=\"737\" src=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-28.jpg\" alt=\"Toy car Ryland \" class=\"wp-image-2291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-28.jpg 904w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-28-600x489.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-28-150x122.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-28-768x626.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 904px) 100vw, 904px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You put the keys in his hands, hands that are now bigger than yours, how is that possible how could your sweet little baby ever be bigger than you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"977\" height=\"931\" src=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29.jpg\" alt=\"Sweet baby Ryland \" class=\"wp-image-2292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29.jpg 977w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29-600x572.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29-150x143.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/image-29-768x732.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a lonely thing we do. Saying hello and saying goodbye, in every breath, every blink, every step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My boy turns 16 today. As in years. Sixteen years old. Today. I have a sixteen year old. Me. I have a sixteen year old son. Being a parent is&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2293,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}