Time marches on, folks

Just like a burly man in steel-toed boots.

You know why I feel it so strongly today?

Because my baby, my baby, turned 20 today.

This marks the official end of teenagers in the house. On the one hand, I have fought the good fight(s) and emerged victorious! However, I still can't believe she has gone from this, and please ignore the random foot, which is probably her brother about to sock her one (pun intended):

To this, in the span of what feels like twenty minutes, not twenty years...

I find myself thinking about the pre-cottage days when we lugged our tent trailer (bonus points if anyone recognizes those iconic curtains and can name that brand of Tent Trailer as ubiquitous as road kill on our Canadian highways) off to Charleston Lake Provincial Park. We'd make a camp fire every night and S'mores. We'd share baby stories and sing songs and look for shooting stars as we did our best to dry our hair from that last swim in the lake at dusk. My littlest one, my baby, in a quest to keep up with her older siblings, would take all the scary ghost stories she'd heard and mangle them into one, really, exceptionally scary story like her classic tale, "The Baby with a HOOK!"

Then as their little heads would begin to nod, I'd gather up my little chickies and settle them into bed. I didn't appreciate until they were older just how special and fleeting it is to have all my children sleeping under one roof, nor did I realize how much I would miss that.

And now my baby is 20.

So here's to you, my darling girl. We're so proud of you, of your many accomplishments, your kindness, your quirky humour, your incredible talent.

Happy, birthday my sweet girl.