Flying

Keira said to me today “Mommy, when I grow up I’d like to still live with you and Daddy. Is that ok?”

I laughed and stroked her hair and looked lovingly at her beautiful face and said “no honey…it’s not”. Because people, at some point I’m going to require eight hours of sleep again in a stretch, can I get an amen?

At some point I’d like to pee without having to discuss all hither and heretofore of My Little Pony.

But actually…if I’m honest…(ish)…I can hardly stand how quickly my kids are growing up. What a strange place to sit – wanting nothing more than to have them healthy, happy, and growing strong and yet all the while trying to stop the clock and freeze time and remember each little moment in sweet detail.

Alas, the crux of parenting – they’re not ours. Not for long anyway. We’re just training them how to be the people they were always meant to be. We’re just “growing” them. Little flowers that push through each phase of new life under our tender and watchful care, until suddenly opening full to show the beauty that God made them into. To grow and to leave. To fly.

When I listen to the them whisper and watch them play…or stare as they run and laugh and fall together in a heap of giggles…I can’t help but feel the heavy sadness that it won’t last nearly long enough for my mamas heart, and yet filled with the joy of being chosen to watch their journey unfold. How lucky are we, I remind myself. How lucky to have front-row seats to these two glorious lives. Where but for the grace of God, we would never have known them at all. Their paths would have been vastly different all the way across the world.

But instead, somehow in the mystery of God’s design and plan – and all the way on this side of my world – here they are; part of my own story and I, a part of theirs. The crying, the laughter, the bumps and bruises, the story-time and playtime, the meals and the prayers and the kisses and hugs. The reassurances, the encouragement, the messes and the clean up.

The day to day living.

And all things My Little Pony and Avengers.

And then suddenly…the flying…

Cherish every moment. Love your babies well…