Freeze Frame

This afternoon was the annual onslaught of the Erdelatz extended family, including Aunt Heidi and her seven, count 'em, seven young kids.

Granted, the crowd was a bit smaller this year, what with Megan in college, Ryan and Jimmy working, and Dani and Alex in Lake Tahoe. But in keeping with tradition, we all plunged into Uncle Eddie's deliciously nature-inspired saltwater pool (complete with spa and waterfalls) and splashed around.

And in betweeen diving contests, splash fights, and stealing a moment away from the gleeful screaming to hide in the hot tub, I rested on a rock in the deep end and had a thought as I watched six-year-old Andy giggle and dogpaddle his way around.

Someday he and his twin sister Mary Kate will be in high school. They'll be my age, and have cars and phones and significant others and I won't have to coax them into a hug every year.

But suddenly, I didn't want anything to change.

I want Maddie to always be the redheaded, rosy-cheeked 13-year-old she is now, because isn't that how it's always been? Headstrong Mali should never age past her confident age of 9, and Emmy should remain bubbly, carefree and 7. Bobby should always be his fiery, loud 10-year-old self, and the twins should always, always be just old enough to plunge into the pool without arm floaties, but young enough to need time to warm up to me again every year when I visit.

That's how it should stay, because I can't remember a time when it hasn't been this way.

But it's not. I'm going to be coming home from college soon, and Maddie will have her first kiss, and Emmy and the twins will be in the torrential waters of middle school, and before we know it, we'll all be married with kids while the twins are applying to colleges.

I got so overwhelmed with the speed of time, and the need to keep this picture in front of me the same just swelled up inside me, and I almost cried right there in the deep end.

Because unlike last summer, this time, for a moment, I was truly happy. At that moment, just being there with everyone the age they should be, I was so happy and full of, okay, love.

I was.