Who can believe this?? Heather is 20 years old!! I remember how I lay in bed after she was born, thinking over and over, "I have a daughter. I have a daughter." It felt so unreal to have a second child, until she woke up in the nursery and they brought her to be fed.
When Heather was little and not yet able to speak intelligibly, I used to go nuts, wishing she could just talk to me and really say what she was thinking. I think it was due, in part, to the fact that Justin was our first and had not developed that ability either. I was ready to have a child whose mind I did not feel the need to be able to read. Then, one day when she was about four, I remember saying to Myron under my breath, "I just wish she'd stop talking for five minutes!!" He never stopped giving me grief over that, telling me that I was the one who had wished for her to talk.
It was so fun when she got older and we started to be able to share hair stuff and makeup and shoes and earrings!! We help each other pick outfits for different occasions and we love to have girls' nights where we go out to dinner or a movie or both if we're lucky! We also love those times when we are at home, just watching tv, surfing the internet, and hanging out.
And now she's an adult with a life that is definitely all her own. She has school and work, and a very active social life. I'm lucky when I have chances to spend time with her these days. I took her to see the movie Mamma Mia, and when Meryl Streep sang Slipping Through My Fingers, I cried----realizing that my time with Heather is beginning to be limited and that before I know it, she'll be moved out and living a life quite separate from me. It makes me thankful for the phase we're in now. She's gone a lot with her job, her hours at school, and her friends and boyfriend, but she still lives here. She still has days she likes to spend at home, and I still get to see her in passing quite often. It's a preview of sorts, a weaning, which I think will lend more of a naturalness to the day she finally does move out.
Interestingly, her dad's work schedule has changed and he's able to spend more time at home, so while I'm learning to get used to Heather's absence, I'm also learning to get used to Myron's presence! Have you ever noticed that changes don't usually come just one at a time? Hm. Que interesante.
2 comments:
You make me want to skip nap time and go and do something with the little ones. I hope that I have that kind of relationship with at least one of my girls. That will be a kind of depressing stage of life to have your children all grown up and move away. I am glad you are getting a little weaning effect going on to prep you.
I cried at the same song in Mama Mia. On the other hand, my married girls probably are in my house more now than they were here before they got married - so have hope!!! Things change but they get richer. Just hope Heather lives close when she gets married!
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