Just a step

We walk the crowded street of Tarragon Raya.
Fresh from a concert, Madi totes her cello.
She steps cautiously along the crumbling walkway
while mopeds zoom by.

We find refuge in our favorite bookstore
And dine on lemon meringue pie, stale but eatable.
We talk about the upcoming Hunger Game movie
About school, about birthdays

I look at my daughter.

It was a blink.
This time from infancy when I rocked her to sleep in my arms,
her head cradled in the crook of my neck,
her fuzzy hair tickling my chin.
To age twelve.
No longer a child.

I thought I was going to cry the day she left primary at church
to enter the Young Women's class.
I prepared myself.
But then the time came.
And I looked at her, so tall, with her long hair and shy smile. And I knew she was ready.
So the expected sadness never came as I had expected.

Instead, I watched with an aching joy as she stepped over the threshold to Young Women's
as though it was no steep step at all.
Just another step.
In her journey.

(Madi on her twelfth birthday - enjoying a snuggle on her new beanbag with CJ)

Happy Birthday sweet girl. You will always be my first...first baby, first 1st grader, and now my first 12 year old. Thanks for paving the way! Sharing these firsts with you is one of the best parts of my life.