Wednesday, April 7, 2010

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.

10 comments:

Aven said...

Pam-
She's beautiful! Congrats on surviving the teen years. They're a ways off for me ;) Posts like this remind me to appreciate them while they're little.

kc dyer said...

Well, THAT made me cry...

~kc

Debby said...

*whimper*

Must run back to BBs for a baby toe fix.

Unknown said...

March on it does...
I learned this last weekend that the little guy who lived in a Spidey costume for most of his 3rd year is going to become a daddy this November.
How can that be?
*sigh*

A Novel Woman said...

Thanks, Aven. Sorry kc and Deb, but someone has to suffer with me.

Betty, at least you're going to have some little toes to nibble on!

nightsmusic said...

Happy, happy birthday to her! And yes, I agree, you survived. I'm still trying to and mine are 23 and 21. *sigh* They need to move out...

Anonymous said...

Your daughter was a cute baby and is a beautiful 20 year old young lady.

Yutha said...

Oh Lord, look at that punim! She was a gorgeous baby and is a gorgeous (inside and out) adult. My Sarah - 20 - sigh....

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful gal. Love your line about time marching on. Our only child will start high school this fall & I'm panicked that she only has 4 years before college. It's gone by in a blur. The saving grace is that there may be times when I want it to go by fast due to teen madness, but then I'll regret it of course. Congratulations on a job well done!

A Novel Woman said...

Thanks, Lila! And you'll be on the other side of the teen years before you can blink.