By:Trace Adkins
As we were on our drive to school Terry didn’t seem her usual upbeat self, she was “complaining saying “I can’t wait to turn 18”. All she wanted was to be older, and treated older. She didn’t appreciate what she had, and didn’t realize how good she really had it. Me being her mother knew exactly as she felt, sometimes being young isn’t all that great, but it is completely normal to feel this way. As crazy as this sounds, I was once a kid myself.
Day to day Terry dreaded going to her old, crummy looking school, doing homework, and doing other things that older people didn’t have to put up with. She thought that growing up would make all her problems vanish. She said” I’ll make my own money, and I’ll make my own rules”. Unfortunately really didn’t hit her yet.
Days later we were on our morning routine ride to the school. As “I put my car in park out there in front of the school” I told her “I was just like you”, and being a teenager she didn’t care or acknowledge what I had to say. I began to explain to her that she has to start realizing that sooner than you know it your going to be all grown up, and I know for a fact that “you’re gonna miss this; you’re gonna want this back; you’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast”.
Time goes by and Terry graduates, goes to college, gets a job, gets a boyfriend, and “ before she knows it she’s a brand new bride”, and has kids. She goes from being a laid back kid, to worrying about her job, and kids. If she only took her moms advice as a kid she would have realized how good she actually had it. Now her little children are running around the apartment, and she is a stressed out mom that know realizes how nice it is to be a kid.
As her children grow up she has flashbacks of what her mom said to her, and how she turned her head the other way and did not care at all what she had to say. As she’s driving her two young children to school she begins to tell them “You may not know it now; but you’re gonna miss this”. She hopes that her children will realize the luxury of being a kid, unlike her.
She was staring out that window, of that SUV
Complaining, saying I can't wait to turn 18
She said I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said I was just like you
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her It's a nice place
She says It'll do for now
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says Baby just slow down
'Cause You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says they don't bother me
I've got 2 babies of my own
One's 36, one's 23
Huh, it's hard to believe
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this
