A Boy and His Blanket

Sean Patrick is the proud owner of a tattered, well-loved, smelly, mangy blue blanket. Each of my kids have had their own special blanket. Erin had two of them in fact. Before we left on our recent vacation Sean announced that he didn't want to pack his blanket, that it could stay home. Being the smart momma that I am, I smuggled it in with all the other crap, I mean necessary stuff, that we needed to haul half way across the country with us. Sure enough somewhere around PA or OH Sean "needed" his blanket and the weeping and wailing started. I, being able to predict the future, magically produced "the" blanket, and boy and blanket were happily reunited.
For a long time I tried to help my kids get over their need to carry around that certain blanket, but now that Sean is my last little "Linus," I find myself reminiscing about my kids and their blankets. I know where each blanket came from or who made them, when we "met" each blanket as they each have their own personality, and more importantly I know where each blanket has been and it's history. Ahhhh, the memories.
Erin made this most recent trip without her blankets, which are now barely recognizable as blankets. Shannon gave hers up more readily and with little fuss, so she was the first the leave them behind. Sean, well, one day when he is ready, he will leave behind his "friend" and move on too. Not sure why I am feeling so sentimental about silly little things like favorite blankets, but my babies are growing older, too fast, and I think that I'm gonna miss many of the little things that come with "little" people and their creature comforts. Awww shucks, and to think I have been on a high-speed track to move past the diapers, bottles, blankets, mashed food, strollers, cribs, bibs, binkies, snap-between-the-legs clothes, and such. Now I find that a small part of me will miss it. Just a small part, but a tender one.
Others who have gone before me on this parenting adventure said that one day I would miss this stuff, but I didn't believe. I am still not a total believer, but I am starting to see the picture come into focus. I am happy about the future and I can't help but wonder, What else will I miss one day? Perhaps it will be the things that drive me the most crazy now. Perhaps?!