Double Take

Sometimes I look at my kids and have to do a double take. I always tend to think of them as being little. I don't know if it is me wanting them to stay little or that I just get so caught up in day-to-day life that I don't see them change.

I went to pick upD2 from basketball practice last night and I was peeking in through the door. These are girls who I coached from 4th grade through 6th grade. They were little, giggly, and awkward in their ability to play. As I peered through the window of the door, I couldn't find D2. Then I did my first double take. She was playing left post and was in the middle of all of these girls who are now taller than I am. Part of it was that she had straightened her hair, the other was I was looking for this gangly girl with the puffy ponytail.

When we got home, she was standing across the room and I did it again. I looked at her and realized that she is almost grown (body-wise) and she isn't a little girl any more. She has always had compassion beyond her years, a warm personality and an ability to strike up a conversation with anyone she sees - but then I saw her as she would be as a young woman. She passed me in height about a year ago, but I hadn't really noticed her child-like features starting to fade. I just looked at her for a few minutes, and realized that she is becoming a beautiful young woman who amazes me in so many ways and makes me so proud to be a Mom.

At dinner last night, she said she gave her boyfriend's Mom my phone number. Apparently, he wants to take her to dinner and a movie this Saturday. They will be accompanied by his parents. She started laughing and said, "It is kinda weird because he wants to go to the movie around 2, and that would mean we would eat dinner around 4. Who eats that early? And dinner - with his parents. Isn't that kind of weird?" Sometimes she is still 13! TBW and I told her that was nice that his parents would do that (and we knew that was the only way she was going) and that she should just enjoy herself.

At the end of dinner, TBW suggested that D2 stay home today to get plenty of rest, to nurse that cold and to take care of herself. I drew her a hot bath, told her to relax and to then get warm jammies on. She said she wanted to sit with TBW and I to watch tv when she was finished. I tucked her in bed, rubbed her back and she was asleep before I left the room. Sometimes, just having someone close take care of you when you don't feel well makes your feel full of love. Sometimes, being the person that can give that love makes you feel the same way...