Like Aerosmith Says

This girl, this child of mine, she is growing so fast. Tonight was her first grade open house. Amidst the standard progress reports, her teacher wanted to let me know what a good girl she was. I nodded, responded with the appropriate thank you and went to move aside, figuring that was the extent. She put her hand on my arm and asked if I knew what a big help my girl had been to Robert. Now, my girl had mentioned a Robert. But she also mentioned Gracie, Cameron, Alex, Kayla. She's a social little thing. I shared this with the teacher tonight, and she smiled. She told me that Robert was a child with mild autism in the class. In that first week, as the class began working on spelling and vocabulary, Robert struggled a bit. There were some snickers, some giggles. My girl got up from her seat, walked over to Robert, and offered to help. She stayed with him for the rest of the vocabulary lesson, and as she sat next to him, yammering on in the way she does, including him in every moment, Robert became part of the class. As Ms Kennedy was telling me this, Robert came into the classroom. A supercute, six year old boy with dark hair and a shy smile. As we were walking out, Robert's mom stopped me and asked if I was my girl's mom. When I said yes, she thanked me.

My girl. After six years of hugs and kisses and scrapes and arguments and tears and laughter and cleaning puke and crazy hair and questions that break my heart and questions that make me laugh out loud, this girl still makes me catch my breath in amazement. Still makes me thank God for this miracle. Still makes me love as though my heart will burst open. And I will pray tonight, that as life twists and turns, I never forget to enjoy every moment of being this girl's mom. The good, the bad and the ugly.....I don't want to miss a thing.