Memories......

7 yrs old

12 yrs old

                         Today we had to go into town to sign Layla up for her High School courses. yes, she is home schooled but she does virtual  home schooling which is still linked to the county. So, we go in and we are sitting there listening to her options and I ma watching her fill out her own paperwork for the first time ever, and I felt a sudden jolting sense of loss blanketed with an overwhelming feeling of pride. My baby, my little girl was well on her way to growing up. Making choices on her own,and I could feel the nest emptying from beneath me. How had 15yrs + 9 months gone by so quickly?  seems like just last week I was telling her to, "look both ways before you cross the road", and to, "keep peddling baby even when I let go of the seat"! or " just take a deep breath and swim for the side, I'll be right there waiting". Now I'm fielding questions about S.A.T's and college pathways and summer courses for extra credit...
                                This inevitably led to Owyn's favorite car pass time of "TELL ME A STORY FROM WHEN I WAS LITTLE" . So began the ride to the pool, the ride home afterwards and still as I type the finishing touches of this walk down memory lane. It has me a little melancholy,

13 yrs old

   looking at baby pictures and reminiscing. When she was 7 I asked Layla, " what do you want to be when you grow up"? She replied,"a marine biologist, a photographer and a super model ".  Aahhhh, youth. How big we dream.Anything is possible then ya know? I asked her today on the way home," so,what do you wanna be when you grow up"? She replied," happy ". I like that, simple and to the point. HAPPY. That's my Layla, she is a pragmatist 100%. She was chosen to have a short story she had written published . It's really very good. I couldn't be prouder of her and to see her finding her path through art makes my soul rejoice!She is confident and doesn't care what other people think or want of her, she is her own woman and that gives me peace of mind. I know she love chemistry and poetry and a million other things, but I believe that no matter what she grows up to be, HAPPY will be in the title somewhere.

14 yrs old (look at that waist line!)