Where are you going, my little one, little one?

Returning from our two-week holiday, our 1 year old Sheltie seemed more “adult” and my youngest daughter tearfully asked why puppies had to grow up so fast.  As she lamented this dynamic relative to her dog, I felt myself thinking the same about her…

We talk about the present, but what enormous expertise it takes to actually live there.  Constantly on the move from what was, to what will be, the moment at hand is so difficult to apprehend, let alone appreciate.  Somehow, in just the last few days, I came to notice that my smallest progeny had changed.  Like her beloved pup, she too now seems more mature.  Apart from a smooth continuum, it is as if she has entered a distinctly new phase, connected to what has been, but undeniably and entirely unique.

The opportunity to fully embrace the child I had only a fornight ago is forever gone.  Surely I have missed so much of what transpired in intimate proximity right before my eyes.  I know I have.   

Yet, there is real consolation, and a definite challenge in knowing that even as the little one I once held in my arms is past, there is an even more beautiful and special one always to come.  

To have the awareness of what used to be, that heightens the ability to grasp and give thanks for what now is…