Grasping the strings of youth

Just when did it happen?
Is it the same for everyone, as in some cultures through ceremony at a prescribe age you achieve the mantle of "man"? Or is it a gradual ascension that passes so slowly as to go unnoticed until one day as you reach middle age you step back in stunned disbelief.
I'm not sure of the authors name but I once heard a line that quite aptly sums it up "I looked in the mirror and saw a little boy looking back asking me "what happened?"
Today, after our Sunday chores I succumbed to my younger once incessant needling and took them out for a bike ride.  With Izzy perched in the rear of our latest three wheeler Rozy and Owen took point and we headed off in no particular direction.  Of course as we rode Rozy, the ever concerned would occasionally question as to whether or not I knew where we were,and if we would ever find our way home.
I reassured her and just became lost in the bantering back and forth between them.  Innocence is refreshing.  Only a few blocks from our house and to hear them talk you'd think we were worlds away.  Everything was of intense fascination and wonderment.  We eventually went off the road a neighborhood away as we saw a small water retention pond someone had installed a fountain in.   You would have thought they found a mystic waterfall as they carried on.
I love being a father, but more often then not have no time to "be" a father so moments like this are to be cherished.  And as cliche' and pandering to sappy sentimentality as it may sound, I lament the unseen moment in my life that I was forced to relinquish the abandon of youth for the more trite confines of adulthood.  When I slowly crept into the gray shades of responsibility.  Toiling and sacrificing  rendering upon Caesar what is due Caesar. (granted I think they were talking of his "just dues")
Perhaps that is the true joy of having children, and why we kept having them.
I'm not up to facing that little boy in the mirror.
I have no idea what to tell him.
Peace and Love folks!
See you all tomorrow!