Milestone Moment
There's an old saying that in parenting, the days are long, but the years are short. Essentially, although the daily routine of diapers, tantrums, homework, and bedtimes seems like an endless grind of "lather, rinse, repeat," in reality, when you look back, it all changes in the blink of an eye. Which, as the mother of a seven year old, I can tell you is true. And nothing brings it home like the arrival of another milestone moment. Each one is a reminder that the time has flown by and that slogging through all those individual moments of motherhood have culminated in another event that stands to mark the passage of that time. First steps. First loose tooth. First day of school. And, for Catholic families like ours, First Communion.
Sabrina made her first communion on Sunday, and I have to confess, I was more moved than I thought I would be. We're pretty small "c" Catholic. We belong to a parish and attend church fairly regularly, but the Pope doesn't really play a role in my daily decision making (hello...2 kids, no man). I have a crucifix up on a wall, but I don't think Sabrina would have a clue as to what a rosary is for. So it was a bit of a surprise to me how excited and proud I felt watching my oldest daughter skip down the aisle in her party dress and sparkly hot pink sneaks (no freaky mini-bride for me. One little girl wore a veil. I mean, seriously??). Looking around the church where I had made my first communion, watching my child enter into this community that I hadn't even realized was so important to me, was more than a milestone. It was a Moment.
It was a moment for me to reflect on what this community meant to me, and how happy and secure it made me to be able to share it with my daughters. And how proud I was to be able to share my daughter with it. To stand up and say, "this is my girl. I have loved her and raised her and am now ready to trust her to you." It was a moment where the tiny pink bundle that I spoke for in front of the baptismal font stood up and spoke for herself for the first time. My baby is truly growing up, moment by moment.
Comments
It's so true! We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day we forget sometimes to take it those precious little moments. My son is three. We just got rid of his "baby bike (aka the tricycle)" and got a "big boy bike" with training wheels. We have actually had the big one for a while but his little legs were just a smidge too short. This past weekend, we (ok I) decided to get rid of the baby bike and to try the big boy big, which he wanted no part of, but after a half an hour or so he was crusing all over the place on that thing. I have to admit I got a little teary! I'll have to have a box of kleenex when we take off the training wheels.
You should post some of your special moments at White Cloud's Mom & Baby Moments contest at the following site:
http://www.mywhitecloud.com/momandbaby/index.jsp
