Friday, June 22, 2012

Could it be 10 years?

It was yesterday, wasn't it?  When I was pushing the cumbersome and by today's standards archaic, stoller down the street. Your tiny legs would bounce playfully in the sunlight.  Seriously, these Euro-strollers today make our Eddie Bauer model look like a Range Rover (but heavier.)

It was last week when I left you at the day care door.  There were tears of anxiety, and heartbreak as I drove away putting my trust in others.  You might have been upset too, if only for a moment.

Our dances through our cramped apartment.   All of my misguided attempts to get you to nap.  You would hum along to Ben Folds and Eels songs and raise your arms begging me to "hold you."  But the napping was always short lived.  After all you had lots to do.  Walking at 9 months!  Always with the last laugh huh?  That made the beach vacation a challenge.   My back never recovered from hovering over you as you raced toward the Atlantic.  No fear.  Just the way we ordered it.

Your first day of school and singing "God Bless America" before first bell.

The soccer games with the pop up goals.  The grocery trips that found you "driving" race car shopping carts.  Bagels times in the Starbucks high chair.  Our road trips to Mema's.  Remember when we got behind that fertilizer truck for miles and miles on rt 78?   You didn't know what to make of it.

The trip to the farm when you memorized the receipt and made it your personal password.

How about the Museum of Natural History class trip I crashed?  We had big laughs.  The Globetrotters?  Your first concert (John Mellancamp) and the realization that some cigarettes make funny smells.

That young Brazilian boy you took a liking to at World Financial.  Face painting in DC.  The aquarium in Boston.  The stars and moon crib in your closet we called a nursery.

Our enormous cat trying to eat your formula.  The scratch on your face he gave you as we were heading out for your first year photos.

Now, on the eve of your birthday, you are not even upstairs as I write this.  A sleepover invitation trumps mom and pop on this given Friday.

On your first day of summer vacation you slept til 10:30.  Then you proceeded to play on an electronic device for an hour or two.

You showered yourself.  You made your breakfast.

You take the dog on walks and have marathon girl time with 7th graders.

Long sleeve boys bathing suit tops have been replaced with bikinis.

J-14 now arrives in our mailbox every month.  Pictures of boy bands adorn your bedroom walls.

You have a passport and will be using it, solo, in less than a week.

Camp in a foreign country and all the confidence in the world that you will be able to do it.

It all goes by so fast.  But it's also immortalized in those memories.  You cannot hold on to time so simply accept it.

Those moments have all passed, but new experiences await.

First day of middle school.  Varsity letters.  Honor rolls(?) Dates.  Screaming matches with mom.  Proms.  College (or trade school- just do better than us damn it!!)

But first, 10.

More zoos.  Bike rides.  Walks with the dog.  Mini golf.  Pools.  Practices.  Parents embarrassing your friends. Italian ices.  Concerts.  Movies.

One more year of childhood.

Can we do it?  It's fast, sure.  But we must slow things down from time to time.

Soon enough you will know that Quicken is more than an arena in Cleveland.  It will come to your attention that storks don't deliver babies.  That the internet is more than Youtube.  And that, for the most part, life can get real difficult.

Not this year!

This year we nail it!  Smiles and good vibes for everyone.

Happy Birthday N.  Thanks for coming into our lives and bringing more joy than this aging hipster deserves.

1 comment:

  1. Love it H. Happy Birthday to your little girl, and she is still little :)

    ReplyDelete