A couple of weekends ago my family and I took a one-day road trip to Washington D.C. We love to travel and the occasion was it happened to be a beautiful spring day. I was really excited that our teen was actually around and able to join us (its a rarity these days).

It wound up being the perfect day to visit a few museums, explore some national landmarks and see the cherry blossoms, while creating some new family travel memories together.

Do you remember the last time when you and your family had some spontaneous fun together, especially when traveling?

Throughout the day I kept looking at my kids and feeling sentimental over how much they have grown.

My teenage son and I were hanging on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial talking when my husband decided to take a picture. It wasn't until a few days later that I actually looked at the picture and couldn't believe the young man next to me was the boy who made me a mom almost 15 years ago.

I blinked back tears as I quickly tried to remember when he got taller than me.

My mind started racing as I realized I couldn't remember when he started growing a mustache, or the minute his boyish features slipped away to reveal a more grown up version of my best buddy.

The more I thought about these things, anxiety started to settle in. Like why couldn't I remember the last time he was more like a boy and less like a man?

Do you remember the last time when?

• You stopped reading to your child, because they started reading to themselves.
• Your child started bathing/taking a shower by themselves.
• They switched from calling you Mama or Mommy to Mom
• They no longer needed you to tuck them in at night.
• They cried because they missed you.
• They needed to be babysat instead of now being the babysitter.
• They smelled sweet.
• You were their number one resource for answers and information.
• Even the idea of dating made them cringe.
• They weren't taller than you.

I could go on and on with this list of do you remember the last time when, but it pulls at my heartstrings a little more each time to think about how I made a simple parenting mistake...I blinked.

When I opened my eyes the child I gave roots to had grown wings, and as bittersweet as this new part of my parenting journey is I couldn't be prouder of the man he is becoming.