Yesterday Chris and I drove down to the local school with our two oldest children, Josiah, 19, and Kate, 18. It was time to vote for whichever government we wanted to lead New Zealand for the next three years. It was an amazing feeling watching our son and daughter place their first votes. Kate had just celebrated her eighteenth birthday the day before! As we went back to the car, I said to Chris, “Can you believe it! We’ve raised two of our children to voting age.” Where have the years gone?
I remember going to vote at a small country school eighteen years ago, when Josiah was just one year old. We had a good friend staying with us for the night, and I’d put a roast chicken dinner in the oven before we went out to vote. When we got home, I opened the oven door to check the chicken, and quick as a flash, Josiah crawled up behind me and put his little hand on the hot oven door. He cried and cried, and I spent half an hour cuddling him on the sofa with his little hand in a bowl of cold water. And now….he is a strong, tall young man and able to vote himself!
What a reminder to me to seize the day. Our children grow up so fast.
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