Kiki

Some days don’t contain much time for quiet contemplation. Today was such a day. I ran from activity to activity trying to keep everyone on schedule. We fit everything in, the birthday donuts to a classroom, the key lime pie made, the church luncheon at a park, the wrapping of presents, the hour of cub scouts, the mother/daughter dinner, the presents and pie eating, and the departure of Kiki for her first official youth group activity. Interspersed with all of that were the regular events which happen every day, two potty accidents, laundry, dishes, taking kids to school, picking kids up from school, all that stuff. I even stole some time to tweak the text on my children’s book.

It was a busy day. I want very much to wax rhapsodical about Kiki and how much she has grown. I want to use words to capture her just as she is before she grows another two inches and is taller than me. I want to describe the conflicting emotions she harbors as she wants to be independent but discovers that there are many ways to achieve it, some of them bad ones. I want to express my amazement at her ability to turn herself around and place her feet on a path that leads to places she wants to go rather than places she doesn’t. She has had a rough week and I’m thoroughly impressed that she is learning lessons from it and moving on.

Kiki is now 12. In 14 days she will be leaving elementary school forever. Next fall she will embark upon the perilous journey that is public junior high school. I am both happy and sad to see her grow up. She was my first baby and now there is nothing babyish about her.