I bet every mom spends nine months (or more) thinking this thought: I can’t wait to meet my child.
I know I did. Just today I caught myself wandering down a thought trail that led me to just that place: I can’t wait to meet my daughter.
Except my thought today was possibly a bit unique. Because my daughter is nine months old and was sitting right in front of me. In fact, looking at her was what inspired me to think it in the first place.
Sure, I spent nine long months (more, actually!) waiting to meet this little human. I thought when she arrived, that would be it, the magic moment! And it was.
But what I wasn’t prepared for was all the moments of meeting her that came after. Shortly after her birth I met my smiling daughter. I met my snuggling daughter. I met my crying daughter. Down the road I will met my teething daughter. I met the little girl who loves stuffed animals so much she smushes them to her face whenever you hand her one. I met the little girl who is one of the most ticklish humans on earth. I met the little girl whose eyes light up when she sees me. Or her sister. Or her dad. Or her grandma. Or a human in the grocery store.
And as I was sitting watching her play today, I realized that stretching out before me is a whole lifetime of meeting her. Before long I will meet the walking girl, the running girl, the talking girl. Every day she unfurls like a new leaf on a new branch on a new tree. The possibilities of who this little human might become are infinite. Every day of this life, she will change and be changed. Each day she will be slightly different than the day before. Slightly more. And I have a front row seat to this lifetime of magic.
I can’t wait to meet my daughter.
