I remember so clearly holding her in my arms that first time, sending her off for her first day of grade school, holding her upside down so she could walk on the ceiling and then "berating" her for the footprints she left up there, coaching her softball and soccer teams, watching her dance in "Firebird," siting on the edge of her bed at the end of the day as we talked about things on her mind and then tucking her in (even through high school), hiking Billy Goat and Cedar Run and Rip Rap trails, going off with her to "rescue" a bewildered little dog and then watching the two of them become best friends, sharing her college road trip, sending her off to school ... and now she's not even a teen any more. It's amazing, it's astonishing, and I really don't believe it.
Friends have warned me that each coming era of her life would be the toughest, but they've all been good - each with its challenges and frustrations, to be sure, but each to be treasured and then remembered with the wistful smile that perhaps only parents understand. And I know there's a lot more in the future that will be wonderful in its own way.
But where did her childhood go? It seemed to take forever, but now it's gone in as if in a flash, and I mourn its passing.
Yet at the same time, I cherish the adult she's become.
Friends have warned me that each coming era of her life would be the toughest, but they've all been good - each with its challenges and frustrations, to be sure, but each to be treasured and then remembered with the wistful smile that perhaps only parents understand. And I know there's a lot more in the future that will be wonderful in its own way.
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