My dear girl,

I don’t even know where to begin. If I could cover time in molasses and slow it down so you would be with me longer I would.

Yet…

Every day you become more responsible. You help without being asked, you do your work without being asked. You clean your room without being asked. I no longer have to tell you to shower or ask you to change into clean clothes.

And yet…

You want to be with your friends all the time and we miss you. Your brother would bury himself in your hugs for days if you would let him. I would do the same. Perhaps we grasp harder these days because we feel you slipping away.

And yet…

You are learning what interests you, thinking about the future, and becoming this incredibly funny and intelligent young woman I love to talk to. Your sense of humor is sharp and witty, your taste in music is great, and the fact that you steal my clothes sometimes is flattering.

Yet…

Where is my fuzzy duck haired little baby girl!? Where did the time go? Just yesterday you needed help walking, and last night you still couldn’t tie your shoes and early this morning you were nervous about walking to the store by yourself. How is it that by the time I left for work today you were so grown up?

Time plays mean tricks on us parents. While we are in the middle of your childhood we work so hard we forget how fleeting it is. If we are lucky we will remember to cherish that time with you while we are in it. I am one of the lucky ones. I grabbed tight to your childhood whenever I could yet even though I cherished it, you still grew up too quickly.

Now you are entering high school. You wander about on your own, seeing people I don’t know well, having adventures without me. While I am excited to meet the young woman you are ever becoming I still wish you needed me to help dress your doll, or help fix your light saber, or hold you because the movie we watched was too scary. I fear the things you will need me for in the future as much I long to still be needed.

I love you my dearest girl.

Happy Birthday.