My Baby

This morning before school, Miss Bit redeemed her Advent coupon for a marshmallow filled mug of hot cocoa.  It was actually the perfect morning for it.  Our unseasonable warm front has been replaced with a cold snap.  There is a chill in the air that feels warmly familiar this time of year.

We lingered with our hot drinks watching videos of PS22.  I just find such beautiful inspiration in their promising young voices. My girl gets dreamy when she listens to them in a maybe someday I can sing like they do kind of way.  I love it when possibilities get her wide eyed.  She can.  She will.

I couldn't help, but chuckle when she requested and then knew the lyrics to Eye of the Tiger and Don't Stop Believin.  I grew up on those old tunes.  It should come as no surprise that I turned into a puddle listening to Let There be Peace on Earth.  My girl she smiled, shook her head and called me a softy.  Just last night she outed me to the friends we had frozen yogurt with after T. Bone's winter concert.  So eager was she to tell them that I cry at commercials...at anything and everything.  I used to see it as a weakness, but now I know it is truly a sign of strength.  I think she's getting that too.  I hope.

I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up.  I sat surveying T. Bone's peers last night paying close attention to the girls who are morphing into young ladies.  It seems impossible that Miss Bit will ever be that mature...that in four years it will be my baby on this stage performing and moving on to another stage of her life.  I think about how everything will be different then.  She won't want me to braid her hair or help her with her letter to Santa.  I doubt I'll be catching air kisses as I watch her disappear into the school.

Tonight she redeemed her ticket to stay up 30 minutes later. That girl...she understands be. here. now.  I love  that about her. Why save a coupon she may lose or never use?  There's no time like the present, yet she has such reverence for the past. She's an old soul my young one.