13 and Counting
Sunday is a milestone. Every May 10th is a milestone. Sunday, Brynna will turn 13.
Nearly every year I post a blog about the uniqueness of what that year has brought in the scope of parenting a little girl who will forever live somewhere inside of her own mind, progressing at her own pace, doing things her own way.
Each year on her birthday it usually hits me that we miss so much. The pain of that is very real, but this year I want to focus not on what we have and will miss, but on what we have and will experience.
Every day just before dinner, our now 13-year-old toddler crawls up in her mother’s lap to cuddle. She doesn’t realize how hard it is to lap cradle a teenager. She doesn’t even know she’s a teenager!
Sometimes, when I come home from work, she likes to lay on the floor beside me and watch Blue’s Clues. Every night, in her own way, she tells us she loves us and kisses our faces. Hard. I mean she has a different definition of tough love than we do! But she does it.
She is pure and sweet, and innocent. She has no idea what COVID-19 is and couldn’t care any less. She knows she is loved, cared for, and safe.
She reminds me of who we should be with Christ. Regardless of what is going on outside, she knows that Mom and Dad will take care of her, protect her, feed her, and let her watch the Fresh Beat Band. She knows what it means to be loved.
She constantly reminds us of how simple life really is. What a life without worry looks like; what a life with full trust is supposed to be. The scary thing is, she trusts US!
I want to be like her when I grow up. I want to love as she loves, trust as she trusts, relax as she relaxes, sleep with abandon as she does.
Every birthday is a milestone for Brynna. I honestly never thought we’d make it this far. But really, every birthday is a milestone for everyone. We aren’t promised tomorrow. That’s why we must live for Him right now!
This little girl has my heart and continues to draw me closer to Jesus. For that, I am grateful. Love you munchkin.
