seventeen wishes

Oh, she'll be seventeen in January... it just rolls off my tongue, and if I don't linger too long on the subject, or think too hard about the years that have passed, I am okay. Seventeen? When I allow the lingering, my eyes grow damp and I can feel the threatening tears...

But time does not stand still, so with a pocketful grace, I let go and let her be seventeen... but mostly because there is no other choice.  She is my girl, my angel, the first one to call me Mama... and I can't believe how quickly we have gone from there to here, and how beautiful the journey has been.

Happy Birthday, Laura... I love you.