May 22, 2018
Someone in our house hit the first "toe birthday" today. My now 11-year old and her grandma planted our rhododendron around Mother's Day back in 2011. Nothing there looks the same - the tree came down in a storm, and we have sun loving weed meadow always trying to overtake the rhody. Nonetheless, like the no-longer-little person, it grows and evolves in its space.
We had some school friends over last night for some celebratory cake. Most of them have been in our one class per grade school since kindergarten, and don't remember not knowing each other. Soon their six-year journey together through elementary school will end, they will head in the directions of their varied lives and interest, and their childhood will be nearer to its end than to the adorable little preschoolers they once were. Change truly is inevitable and unstoppable.
No matter how much I lament the ending of our daily walks to school together with the onset of middle school, and the frenzied teenagerdom that leads ultimately out of our nest and off into the wild, I cannot stop, nor would I if I could. I'm just taking a few moments to breathe where we're at, and appreciate those gifts. This life. This kid.
Happy birthday my little love.