a glance at what's to come

With a ten year old daughter you start to get glimpses here and there of a teenager. Often it's in some emotional outburst - "*I* wanted to sit at that spot on the couch, but Leah is sitting there!!". Or throwing this gem at me on a regular basis - "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!". I'm sure I'll be hearing more of that one in years to come because as we all know, parents really don't know anything at all.

Then, there's the glimpses of the young woman she is becoming. Watching her patiently work on an intricate craft, seeing her sit down at the kitchen table to get homework finished as soon as she gets home from school (she is definitely my most responsible child in terms of schoolwork!), listening to her play piano. I can't help but be amazed at all the areas where Jillian excels...school, piano, participating in activities at school, drama club, robotics club, picking up sports quickly, art, crafts...the list goes on and on. Jillian is so creative and adept at picking up skills quickly, it's fascinating to watch her learn something new.

This past weekend Kyle was at a birthday party so Jeff and I took the girls to a local state park for a hike. Jillian was a bit upset at the beginning of our outing, a miscommunication that she took personally. We had a discussion about why there wasn't a need for her to be unpleasant to her sister.  For the first part of our hike Jillian opted to walk quietly, she went on ahead of us to have some peace and quiet. About halfway through the hike she started chatting with us again, being more playful and engaging. 

Then we took a short break on the rocks on the shore of Lake Washington and I finally caught this in a picture, Jillian's beautiful smile. As I looked at the picture after we got home I was struck by how grown up she looks, another glimpse into the future when Jillian will be 15 year old, 20 years old. For the most part I am excited to see what is ahead for my little over achiever, my child who is willing to join every club, make friends with everyone and is a quick study. But there is a small part of me that is finding it difficult to imagine her not being a little girl anymore. I'm happy for now to have a glance now and then, it reminds me to appreciate the here and now because I'm sure the next 5 years will go past in the blink of an eye.