Pause.

The countdown is on...3 more days of school!

We are right on the edge of no schedules, fewer commitments, longer days, sleeping in and late movies! This is always my favorite time of year, although it is a little different this year as the end of this school year also means the end of high school for our oldest daughter.

Which means we have a graduation party around the corner, which also means there's lots going on here that involves paint brushes and patios and even carpet....yep, right to the front of the line on that craziness. So in the busyness it could be easy to not take time to explore some of the feelings that occasionally are popping up, but today something caught my attention and I paused.

It was almost as if the little girl version of my daughter skipped across my mind. I tried to catch her before she was out of sight, but I couldn't.

I found myself thinking about how quickly it now seems that she went from that adorable little girl to the mature, beautiful and intelligent young woman who graces my life today. It seems as if we are abruptly coming to the end of parenting her as we have known it thus far. But of course it didn't happen suddenly. It happened gradually, one stage at a time, and a new stage is on its way again.

I wonder how my heart will feel when she is not here daily. I wonder how often I will look for her, long for her. I wonder if I have planted in her to this point all that I intended, all that I could, all that I should. I felt a tear begin in my chest, move slowly to my eye and slide gently down my face.

In the craziness of the busyness, I will pause to catch the real life girl here in my home before she is just out of reach.