Where does time go?

Today was a busy day. My sweet husband took a day off from work to go along on the big back to school shopping excursion, so all 7 of us packed up first thing this morning and headed to the big city. We somehow managed to get all of the shopping done in just a few hours and make it back home in time for Abby's middle school orientation.

How is my sweet little baby already starting middle school??! It seems like just yesterday that I was cuddling her while she slept peacefully in my arms...the sooty curl of her eyelash resting on the gentle curve of her cheek. Her dimpled little fist holding onto my shirt. I remember looking down at her and trying to memorize every single detail about that moment (and so many others like it), because I knew it would pass more quickly than I would want.

 It seems like I closed my eyes and woke up and 13 years had floated by. One day, Abby was a precocious little girl with golden curls bouncing everywhere dancing in my living room and singing, "Once Upon a Dream", and the next she is trying to find the perfect outfits to match her eclectic fashion sense and worrying about what classes she has and who she has them with. I am so very proud of the young woman she has grown into, but there are some times when I really wish I could just snap us back to the moments that I cherish in my heart....back to the times of the sleepy snuggles and the innocent dreams of a loving little sweetie whose biggest worry was which Princess to pretend to be the next day.

 I suppose I will look back on today with the same sort of nostalgia a few years from now.  I will cherish the jokes we shared, as we sat through the speech and slideshow for the new students, and the fun we had trying to find her class and figuring out how to open the stubborn locker.  I will appreciate all of the things she shared with me as we drove to pick up dinner about her life at school. And, as time passes,  I  will watch her get her drivers license and graduate and go on to college and each of those times will bring me back in time...a little journey into the past, that I am not sure anyone but another parent could fully understand.

And, please forgive any grammatical/punctuation errors, as I was typing through the tears... :)

The above picture is of Abby and Emma when they were 3 and 2....I didn't have any earlier ones on this computer and my scanner is not cooperating with me...