My baby girl climbed onto her bike tonight. I'm talking about my big baby girl. My baby girl who, just four months ago, was still three. And I listened to her yell the words, Let go Daddy! Let go! And he did. And off she went...down the driveway by herself...no training wheels. Let go Daddy. Wow. Those words don't always fall easy on parents' ears.
There are moments in a person's life that they want to remember forever so they snap a picture. Then there are moments that don't need a picture because the emotions you feel are so incredibly intense that they somehow lodge that one moment in your heart and your head and you know that you will never ever, ever forget it and how it looked and how it felt. I love taking pictures and capturing my girls. I love it when my girls capture me and I don't need the camera to keep the memory.
Watching your child ride away on her bike is a pretty amazing thing. You see the happiness and the pride and the freaking unbelievable determination in her and you are stoned by it. You want to yell and scream and run next to her but all you can do is try to keep breathing and try not to throw up because your stomach is in knots. And you don't know if you're more proud of her for actually doing it or if you're more proud that she wanted something so bad that she was persistent through the falls and the scrapes.
She rode the length of our driveway. I can't tell you how many times Chris let go. I walked behind them with Eliza on my back. We looked at the cows and I pointed to the moon. Isis and Daddy got farther and farther away. The night got cooler and darker. And as we approached the house I was certain Eliza had fallen asleep. She was quiet and her head had been tipped back for several minutes.
As our family walked together toward the house, the orange fall sky faded behind the mountains. The air was crisp and my ears tingled. As we finished the walk I realized Eliza had not been sleeping. Her eyes had been following that white light in the sky. And on the same night my big baby discovered the freedom of her bike, my little baby discovered the moon. And there is no room in any album for that memory.
4 comments:
Sweet Beck. You captured this beautifully. You're a writer, you know.
away to allow isis and eliza to experience wonder. dad
i say it again, a book. so i didn't see it mentioned anywhere about a 2-wheeler. what the heck is this new-found VA language. davenport. boughten. botchy. 2-wheeler. in IN we say bike. even bicyle. 2-wheeler. never. i like eliza's temperment. she's chill. like her aunt june. she will become my moon niece. and why is isis riding bike at night for the 1st time anyway? surprised she didn't crash into the cornfield and buggies.
Beautiful.
Kate
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