Things are getting so busy and hectic at work that I know these Friday mornings with my little one are limited. I’m trying to enjoy them as much as possible. I love getting coffee with her, and watching her take in the bustling street scene around her. On this morning the dogs were out in full force – it was warm day for early February, and everyone was out enjoying it. All dogs are “Bingo” to her – a Ladybug Girl reference. She knows how to spell B-I-N-G-O from the song of the same title and as we sit and chat across the table a dog catches her eye. “Bingo” she whispers, her eyes watching the puppy’s every move. “B-I-N-G-O” she whispers to him through the glass, and turns back to our conversation once again when he moves out of sight. I catch her dog and people watching again, and I need to take a photograph. I want to catch that profile with the light from the sidewalk coming in. I want to remember the line of those cheeks, and how perfectly delicious she is to me at this age. She is soaking up life at a rapid pace these days, and she ties together the world around her with the stories in her books and the music that she sings and the people that she knows and the things she’s imagining in her head in ways that make me remember again and again how much I love being a mother and witnessing this growing. And how much I need to capture it, to tuck it away and pull it back out again. If I could keep those cheeks just like that I would. I would kiss them over and over again and the softness of them would warm me in ways that a mild February morning in a sun drenched coffee shop will never be able to do.
Such a beautiful post! Your words seem to echo the deep love I feel when looking at my son and daughter. Thank you for sharing such tender thoughts.