Snap By Snap

I did not cry when Amy lost her first tooth or  took her first steps.

It's not that I'm not sentimental. I am very sentimental. But from the time Amy was born, I LOVED seeing her steps of independence. I cracked up the very first time she stubbornly turned her nose away from some baby food she didn't want. She had an opinion! It was so exciting to see that this little person had come with ideas of her own. I do remember all of those "firsts." Her first steps were in a cabin at Sequoia National Park. But I didn't cry. 

So I figured that I was in the clear. Amy is 20 now, gaining independence and still full of her own stubborn ideas . . . what else could there be to cry about?

This past week, Amy and Mark came with me as I traveled to a conference in Monterey, California. Amy had just a short time for her fall break and flew home early to get back to school. She especially wanted to talk with us on this trip about changing her major. She was also thinking about her writing and her upcoming trip to London to study abroad for a semester.

We talked and talked. We sat by the ocean, walked along the beach, and chatted in coffee shops. And just like all those other moments of independence . . . there she was. The independent, spirited girl God gave us . . . and she was growing up. She made some hard decisions in those few days, and was excited by and engaged in her future. And on her last night in Monterey with us, I just might have been a little misty eyed at this glimpse of the grownup Amy.