Yet another oneshot from me! I'm crazy, I know. Read and review, please!
Love Rhyleigh xoxox
Julie Rafter had been a mother longer than she hadn't. She was only nineteen when she gave birth to her eldest daughter, Rachel. She married Rachel's father Dave at age twenty, and by age twenty three, she had three small children and not a lot of money.
She had been married longer than she had been single. Dave Rafter was the love of her life, and she was glad she had found him.
But her kids were growing up at an alarming rate.
It seemed like only yesterday she was doing everything for them- helping them cut up their dinner, tucking them into bed and kissing them goodnight. She had captured every one of their childhood moments on film, storing the hundreds upon hundreds of photos in shoeboxes in her bedroom.
But it seemed like she blinked and they were grown.
Nathan had found the love of his life, Sammy Westaway, when he was nineteen and they were married at age twenty one.
Ben had moved next door with his best friend and, just like they had done when they were children, were still causing trouble.
Rachel was single and had broken away from their family home at age eighteen- although she hadn't really left it.
All Julie wanted to do was freeze the picture. The hallways of their Sydney home were filled with childhood memories, of the kid growing up.
"Mummy! Look at the picture I made today!"
"Daddy, look at my drawing!"
"Isn't it pretty, Mummy?"
"Dad, can we get a dog?"
"I've told you once, I've told you a million times, we are not getting a dog! End of discussion!"
"I can't believe you're in high school already!"
"I have a date!"
"Who'd wanna date you?"
"Mum-meeeeeeeeeeeee!"
She had comforted her crying children, rubbed their backs when they were sick, helped with homework and had cured their broken hearts. She never understood, when she was a child, why her parents complained about her 'growing up too fast'.
But the moment she held Rachel in her arms, she understood.
But it was Ben's wedding day where she really wanted to know why they were growing up too fast. Ben was still the cheeky, mischievous, child at heart they knew and loved, but getting married would change him.
Looking at her children, all three of them, she still saw their cute, little baby faces. The kids that could convince her they were innocent, even though they were proven guiltily. She had refereed many of their fights over the years, and now they barely needed her.
Resting a hand on her heavily pregnant stomach, Julie Rafter sighed.
All she wanted to do was freeze the picture, and hold onto the babies she had known.