That boy pictured above? Yeah, that's not a boy. That's a man. A young man, but a man.

For me, the next 'Next Generation' has arrived.

That young man is Lane, my oldest Grandchild. He turned 18 and he may not know it, but he'll be 21 tomorrow.

He's one of my 5 grandchildren and that group has been what I called the next 'Next Generation In Waiting'. Just little kids whose time hadn't come. There's time, still lots of time. But now he's crossed the 18-year-old bridge and his sister is next in line, then a cousin, another sister, and another cousin.

A pretty big part of me wants to put a stop to that. Another pretty big part of me is as proud as an old bald-headed skinny wrinkled Grandpa can be.

That picture may lead you to believe that Lane is a farm-boy...sorry, I mean, a farm-man. And you'd be right and I'm proud of that, too. And whoever and whatever his sisters and cousins are when they, in turn, cross that 18-bridge, I'm going to be proud of them, too.

You only have your 18th birthday once. In my mind and heart, my son's 18th birthday was day-before-yesterday and my daughter's yesterday. And yet somehow, between the two, they're the dad (2) and mom (3) of those 5 grandchildren of mine.

I don't know how that happened.

Those 5 grandchildren's Great Grandpa told me something when I was about 18. He told me that, as you get older time goes by faster. Not the hours or the days of the weeks. But the months and the years, they just fly by he said. I was 18 and thought my dad was crazy.

He was right.

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