Deep Breaths

Well, my babies are growing up. This became a stark reality within a short 24 hour period.

First, my son came home from a school carnival that he and his buddy attended. In discussing all the cool games and the prizes that my son won, my son mentioned the fact that a young lady around my son's age described him as "attractive."

HUH?!?!?! My baby is attractive?! Well, okay. Granted, he has some incredibly beautiful hazel eyes surrounded by long, dark eyelashes. And he's got some serious muscles on him for an eleven-year-old. And, okay, he is rather cute in my he's-my-baby-boy sort of way. But attractive? To a person of the opposite sex? And he's happy about it? (Deep breaths. Deep breaths.)

Next, my daughter informed me that she would like to re-paint her room green, because that is her new favorite color. Okay. I can do that. Perfectly normal for a little girl to outgrow pink. It was the next statement that made me a little uncomfortable. "And, then, I want you to write Justin Bieber's name all around my room in pink and purple."

WHAT?!?!?! Okay, perfectly normal for a child to have a crush on a celebrity. And all little girls put up posters of their favorite entertainers. But a 16-year-old boy? And my baby girl has a crush on him? And wants his name written all over her walls? (Deep breaths. Deep breaths.)

My babies are growing up. Every day they are less my little boy and girl and more my young man and young lady. Which is good. I want my children to grow and mature and become the wonderful persons that God has planned for them to be.

But, every once in awhile, I wish for time to slow down long enough for me to take a few deep breaths and hold my babies close--for just a little while longer.

Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing.
                          ~Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987