July 1

Isaac has baseball games this weekend, so Abby wanted to do our customary weekend shopping today.

Stop number one was Walmart, where an apparently recent refill in the toy department meant the ball cage was brimming with brightly colored rubber spheres. Abby immediately embraced the cage and asked me to take a picture. So I did.

It was a funny moment, in a way, but it had a tinge of bittersweetness for me, too. She'll be 18 this fall and will start college next month. It's mind-blowing that we're already here; that she's already straddling the official line between childhood and adulthood. And though I could be tempted to turn melancholic over it all --and I know she feels a sense of trepidation as the swing of her emotional pendulum intensifies during this transitional time (as I think it does for all of us as we face change)-- I can't because it's such a blessing to be where we are. It's a blessing that I've gotten to see her grow and change and become the wonderful, compassionate young woman she is today. And it's a blessing to remember the spunky, sassy, authoritative kid she was. 

I live with the constant knowledge that a long life is never promised, so I try to remain equally conscious that every moment is a gift from God. Even the ones that involve my almost-adult child enthusiastically hugging a bin of playground balls.