Practically a Teenager

Why do I call her Bright Girl?

 

She was my firstborn, my initiation into motherhood.
 

 

Picture taken by Krista Griese

Brand new life of my womb,
Warm and secure,
Surrounded by love,
Bursting forth like a rose bud in bloom,
My Bright Girl.

From baby with soft downy skin,
to toddler, to little girl,
to become a young lady,
pratically a teenager this month.

I can hardly believe it!  Time surely does fly away, never to return. 

Still, I have in my heart,

these precious memories of days gone by.

Stored away deep in my heart,

recollections of her discovery of art,
the journey of the imagination

in the pages of a good book,
and the expression and outpouring

of her own heart through poetry.

I wonder, is this the year my name transforms from Mommy to merely Mom? 

For the time being I'm still Mommy, and she still plays with dollies,
dips her feet in the garden fountains,
rests her head on my chest when days are rough,
prefers stories read to her rather than read alone,
before the nightly climb to her bunk.

Mothering my firstborn has been a gift and a joy.
It is the grace and love of God poured out to overflow.

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." (Psalm 139:14)