A Wave of Understanding
We had a birthday here yesterday. I call her Jane, he calls her Max (a baby nickname, from when she made the funniest growling noises—like a Wild Thing—and Max is the friend of the Wild Things, you recall).
She can’t possibly be twelve. It was just the other day that I was toting her in the sling all over Manhattan and Queens. Sometimes we took the stroller along, to hold our groceries. Scott favored the backpack, especially while vacuuming. I tried it once. I missed having her up front, on my hip, where I could kiss the top of her head. Also, I got stuck between the inner and outer doorways of our building’s vestibule when we came home. The outer door opened inward, and the inner door opened out, and there wasn’t room for the first door to close with me and the backpack inside the vestibule, so that I needed to hold the first (big, heavy) door open while opening the second one too. And I didn’t have the muscle power. (This has ever been a challenge of my motherhood. I’m a shrimp.) The outer door began to swing shut while I was trying to maneuver the second one open, and it wedged the backpack frame so tightly that I couldn’t budge. Jane chose this moment to start pulling my hair, and I had no free hands with which to stop her. She was laughing, so at least I knew she was all right.
I don’t actually remember how we escaped from our predicament. Did the landlords come to our rescue?
After that, I stuck to the sling.
She could practically wear her baby sister in a sling now. Sometimes Rilla lunges out of my arms toward Jane, crowing with laughter. I think about baby Jane chuckling over her fistfuls of my hair, unaware that the heavy door threatened to slam shut on her. Laughter and Jane go together; she is a throw-back-her-head- and-howl sort of girl, always quick to see the joke, even when it’s on her. Scott wrote about how she laughed yesterday, out on a seawall by the harbor-seal beach, when a wave broke against the wall and splashed her with spray. I was back on the shore with Rilla (in the sling), watching through the camera’s zoom lens.
That will be increasingly the pattern, won’t it? I’ll be standing on the shore, watching her venture farther and farther out to sea? Reality breaks over you like a wave sometimes, drenching you with salt spray. Babies grow up. They untangle their fingers from your hair and turn their faces toward the great blue expanse of the horizon. They throw back their heads and laugh, welcoming the adventure.
Love2learn Mom says:
Beautiful thoughts – thanks (and my oldest just turned 14 – ouch!). 🙂
On June 8, 2007 at 9:33 am
Meredith says:
So sweet, happiest birthday wishes to that big girl!!
On June 8, 2007 at 11:00 am
Karen E. says:
Beautiful thoughts indeed (signed, A Mom Whose Girls are Growing Up Too Fast)
On June 8, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Maria says:
And we cry tears to fill that ocean as we grieve – but those tears sustain their journey for their always welcome to sail home!
Happy Birthday to your dear, dear Jane!
On June 9, 2007 at 11:26 am
sarah says:
thank you for the very touching words—
On June 9, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Jane Ramsey says:
Happy Birthday, Jane!
(and a very sweet post, Lissa).
On June 10, 2007 at 11:16 am
Beth says:
Ah yes, the inexorable march of time. Sometimes I’m ok with my kids getting older, sometimes not **sigh**
In any case Happy Birthday to your Jane, and Happy Birth Day to you 🙂
On June 10, 2007 at 2:16 pm
DeputyHeadmistress says:
Beautifully said. They will indeed be venturing farther and farther out- both to see and to sea.=)
On June 10, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
LOL, I hadn’t noticed my typo ’til now! But you’re right, it works both ways. Hee!
On June 10, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Kristen Laurence says:
Wish Jane a very happy birthday from the Laurences! (and if you learn of a way to halt children’s growth/aging, please let me know!)
On June 10, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Mary Beth P says:
Happy, Happy Birthday, beautiful girl! My prayers are always with you, as you continue your sailing toward the horizon! May you sail the path God has laid out for you!
On June 11, 2007 at 3:54 pm