Time flies when you're having fun

Tonight, I walked across the football field at Breathitt High School. I've stood on it before in recent weeks, for spirit lines and to cheer on our boys in blue... but tonight as I walked onto it, I was taken back... to a time where the grass was new and the stadium was newer, when the cheers were coming from me, when all was right with the world because the Bobcats had won again and I had a handsome fella in a bright red Mark III truck to go home with (or at least to go through the McDonalds drive-thru and count out change to share a value meal, then watch Sports Overtime before he drove me home before curfew).

Memories on that field... of running through the sprinklers on a hot July day with my best friends only to have Coach yell at us. Of seeing Coach hold up a state championship trophy and dedicating it to all of Breathitt County. Of pep rallies and hanging signs and fixing cups in the fences... of having the band sing me Happy Birthday on my Sweet 16...But earlier memories, too... of climbing under the bleachers of the old stadium and pretending it was my house, of kicking the metal on the bleachers of the old stadium as my brother ran for a touchdown his Senior year... in the only win of the season, against Knott County... A lifetime of memories... or at least28 years worth (Mom started coaching when I was 4... I seriously don't remember a time before it...)

And a time, 15 years ago, when it was me as a Senior. 15 years is a long time, yet to me it seems like yesterday... except for:
A marriage to that handsome fella mentioned before... we still sometimes count out change at McDonalds, but now it's for chicken nuggets for some little guy we picked up at a hospital.
10 years of nursing under my belt, and 5 years of teaching...
time drawn close to God... seeing three of my four grandparents turn 80, losing countless loved ones, and thanking God each day for the moments He gives me with those I love.
Life... fast paced, always on the run, hectic and crazy but beautiful because it's mine...

So tonight, as I walked out on the field surrounded by those I love, the Great Wallace Bates, Caleb, Mom, Dad, Holly, Grandma Bert, blessed to accompany the girl I'd packed on this field so many times before, I looked up at the stands and remembered... and realized that I wouldn't trade a thing. In the past 15 years, which seem as if it was just yesterday, I've been so blessed. It's true, time does fly when you're having fun... and I'm thanking God for each minute.