My mom used to say that the older you get, the faster time passes.  As a child who waited forever for Christmas morning, my birthday or out next vacation, I would inwardly always roll my eyes.  She didn’t know what she was talking about.  A year was 365 days regardless of your age and a day always contained 24 hours. Period.

Yet somehow, my mother was once again correct.  I don’t know why this phenomena occurs, it’s really quite peculiar but I’m about 2 steps away from following in her footsteps and telling my girls the same thing.

Photography: Samantha James Photography

This past wedding season went by in a flash, I hardly even remember it.  It wasn’t until I went through all my pictures on my hard drive that I suddenly recalled so many gorgeous celebrations filled with the most amazing couples and so much love.

I had a little break down on New Year’s Eve because I realized that I wasn’t ready for 2016 to be over.  There were so many things I wanted to accomplish still.  I felt like I was still living in the shadow of 2015, and hadn’t even fully embraced 2016 yet.  I have yet to improve my skills, make business progress or even finish unpacking from our move.  Thank goodness I didn’t share my goals on this little blog, I’d have to hang my head in embarrassment from the lack of accomplishment.

I went back and re-read my year end post from last year (you can read it here) and realized all the goals that I had checked off my list and what a brag board I really had.  But most of all, this stuck out at me and still holds completely true:

“Moving forward is a sign of progress and a little bittersweet.  There’s a part of me that thinks I should have kept a tally of how many times I bled, how many times I wanted to give up, the hours of sleep I lost,  the times I wanted to do a happy dance and high five (only to realized I work most days alone), the number of times I witnessed “the moment”, the walks up and down the aisle, the steps I take on a wedding day, the trips to venues, caterers, flower markets, greenhouses and down the road foraging for treasures.  I need to keep track of it all so I can remember.  So when 2016 rolls around and I can’t hardly function because I’ve pulled another all nighter before one of my fabulous brides’ big day – all I’ll have to do is see the expression in her eyes as she sees her groom staring back at her so in love.  I want to remember why I love this job so much and never forget.  My mother has mentioned on several occasions that there must be an easier way to make a living.  Of course she’s right, but they’re not my passion, my drive or what I want to be doing.  This is right where I want to be.”

Can we just say yes to all of this again?  Remember, but don’t keep score.  Stay inspired and stay true and never forget why we started in the first place.  And let’s do 2017 just a little bit better because time isn’t going to slow down for any of us.

The above photo is from my sister’s wedding, which I’m going to go ahead and say was my favorite wedding of 2016 😉