A reading moment in time

I could remember my daughter sitting on the floor with her little legs crossed and her short blonde hair wisped in front of her eyes. She would thumb through all her books, page by page, pretending to read every one until the pile towered above her little body. She spoke with excitement and a detailed imagination. She even acted out certain parts and made sure to emphasize each exclamation point. I could remember standing in her doorway, as she was too captivated by her books to even notice me there, and all I wanted was for this single moment of time to carry out a thousand times more. To stay forever frozen, when she was so very little and memorized by the smallest of details of each book. A time when she was content with sitting among a sea of books for hours on end. 

Today, she's no longer that little girl sitting by herself and pretending to read. She's now a big girl, with much longer and darker hair. She talks at an alarming rate and is questioning every part of life's existence. She walks around with her trusty notebook and a sharpened pencil, trying her hardest to write what she sees. Now when she's sitting among a sea of books, I listen while she patiently sounds out every word, letter by letter, until she is able to put the sounds together to read the sentence. I pause whatever I'm doing, to participate with her incredible amount of excitement she displays, after reading just one sentence. 

And even on some days, I'll watch her sitting with her little brother tightly against her shoulder and him admiringly hanging onto her every word. He watches as her finger points under each word and follows along to her story. He cheers for her when she reads the sentences correctly, but he would still cheer for her, even if she didn't.

That's the hardest part with growing up, sometimes I still long for that little girl and all those special moments she possessed. But on the other hand, I love watching my daughter share her passions with her brother and all the new moments that are unfolding in front of my eyes. And I'm sure in another few years, I'll be looking back at this time and longing for this moment right now. Thinking back to the days when my daughter was first learning to read and my son eagerly supported her process. Then I'll be begging for a glimpse to when they were both this little, because one thing motherhood has taught me is, every moment is only temporary.