I peeked in the kitchen as the girls were sitting at their little table, Joy with a bowl of frozen blueberries and Grace almost finished with her apple, both of them still in their jammies. I blinked, and in an instant it almost seemed like I could see them several years down the road, still sitting at that table. Grace had colored pencils and a sheaf of paper, and she was busily drawing an elaborate and intricate map of her own world; while Joy, on the other side, had a long pencil and her hair falling across her face as she scribbled down a story for that world.
I have no idea if Joy will write stories, or Grace like to draw. I don't believe this was a "true vision" at all. I do believe that the girls will continue to be best friends as they grow up, sharing dreams and ideas and projects.
And it was nice, in that moment, to be reminded that they will not always be this small, this physically exhausting. Joy didn't fall asleep until 9:30 the previous night. Grace was closer to 10:30, and then she was up by 6:30 in the morning (darn second-year molars! Though I'm utterly thankful they seem to be moving in more quickly than Joy's did, so I am trying to hold onto that to temper my frustration), cranky ever since.
These days are difficult, but they are laying a foundation for the rest of the girls' childhoods. These are the days that set the pattern. Not that things can't change, but even change is built off the beginning.
I'm glad, even with everything else that I wonder if I'm screwing up, that their foundation is friendship, love, and creativity.
And laughter. Always, lots of laughter.
2 comments:
I've been having that mother-prescience for the first time in the past week or so...I swear I looked down at Anouk's sleeping face and saw how it will look as an adult woman. I know that there's a chance that she won't look like she did in my brief vision...but I know she'll always be my little baby, even when she's grown up.
Isn't it great, to think what little kids can become? So much beautiful potential!
Connie, I joke that I've known ever since Joy was born how she is going to look as an adult. Her little face is so piquant, even when she was a newborn I could trace the shape of her bones and get a sense of how she'll look when she's older. Grace, now ... it's hard to imagine Grace as anything but what she is at this EXACT MOMENT, even hard to believe what she looked like as a baby, which I think says a lot about her personality!
But yeah, that mother-prescience is one of those really cool things they never mention in the baby books :-)
Post a Comment