A moment

It just doesn't seem that long ago when she was still making mud pies and playing hop scotch. When she was running through the house, her little face smeared with dirt and not a care in the world. I enjoyed the moments of her growing up, I know I did, but now it seems it is all happening so fast that maybe I didn't enjoy it enough. I did think about what it would be like when she got bigger, shopping for prom and her wedding. Nothing could have prepared me.

I took her to pick up the prom gown she had ordered yesterday. It was my first time seeing it as she is so independent that she and her girlfriend went to pick their dresses out together. When she came out of that dressing room nothing could have prepared me for the young woman standing before me. She was a vision, the kind songs and poems are written about. Nothing I say would do justice to the site before me at that moment. For just a split second I saw my little girl with her dirt smeared face giggling and staring up at me. Just as quickly she became this breath taking woman who was standing before me. I cant describe to you all of the emotions that surged through me. There was joy, sadness, pride and an incredible ache deep within my soul. An ache to retake all of the wonderful years I have had with her and lock them in a box so they never age and remain as fresh as the day they happened. An ache that felt as if the shattered remains of my soul would always be missing a piece, the piece my daughter will always hold.