One of my favorite home-video moments occurred the night our first-born, then a toddler, made the connection that the voice on the other end of the phone was indeed Mommy, who was at work.
    
“Mama, Mama,” Nicholas said in wonder, listening to a voice and trying to comprehend that she was there, not here.
    
Nicholas became Nick, who became a rambunctious child, then a teenager, then a tall kid with big feet.
    
And now, he’s going into high school – right across the street from the middle school that, as he puts it, he “owned.”
    
That toddler became a 14-year-old who no longer looks back every block or so while on his bicycle to make certain his jogging dad isn’t too far behind. Dad still runs, but without his guide. Nick has moved on to other things, like friends, church, lacrosse and homework.
    
The other day, I corralled him for about 30 minutes. We drove to get a smoothie so I could sit and direct some questions toward this elusive young man. Today, he says that starting high school means he is one day closer to “getting out of Tustin.” That means UCLA or UCSD. “So,” I ask, “you’ll just go to their medical schools, or will you go elsewhere?”
    
“I’ll just do it all there,” he replies.
    
“I’d better start saving more for college,” I say, getting a bit of a grin from him.
    
We are a long, long way from the “Mama, Mama” night, from those one-on-one evenings when I would race ahead of him at bath time, hide, and bounce out and happily place the naked, squirming child into our former home’s enormous bathtub.
    
No, now it is on to high school, and the face time we are losing will be nearly gone as he disappears into freshmen coursework and freshmen football.
    
He’s a good kid. And, as I reminded him while we drove home from the smoothie shop, no kissing until age 17, and no driving until age 21. Now, THAT made him chuckle.
    
My wife and I have a pass of sorts, in that our twin boys, who turn 11 this month, give us some breathing room between just-born and gone-too-soon.

But they no longer say “Mama,” either, and this is THEIR last year on an elementary-school campus before middle school beckons.

When that happens, I think I’ll just have a good cry.

Craig Reem is a contributing editor toOC Family magazine.