Grow Slowly.

Since the day my niece & nephew were born, we've reminded them to grow slowly. Their mom does a perfect job of making sure their lives are filled with age-appropriate activities, and although my eager-to-grow-up niece has moments where she wishes the days would fly...the heart of her LOVES being a child. Not long ago, my sister and I talked about fighting hard for her innocence. In a day and time where Hannah Montana adorns every outfit, and pop culture has become mainstream for toddlers...my niece still loves Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street, and I'm so. so. glad. Her ever questioning spirit keeps us on our toes, searching for the right answers to life's biggest questions...and we know that before long the world will start to plug their two-cents, making her constant questions harder to answer.

On Thursday, she starts Kindergarten. REAL Kindergarten.

And none of us are ready for it.

It's hard to believe that the same child that babbled & drooled until she was well over a year is starting a new season of life...and there's no going back. She and I had a heart-to-heart last weekend about my not being ready for her to grow up, and while her overly obvious rebuttal responded with a 'I can't stay a kid forever, MoMo'...that doesn't mean I have to like it. My sister and I are very much alike that way. We may be polar opposites on the personality scale, but adjusting to new seasons of life has never been easy on either of us. We've always crept into change with one foot out the door and a heart that clings to familiarity.

This morning, as my mom and I shared our daily phone call she mentioned that the start of school was upon us. And my heart wept. The future is exciting as Ansley grows into an amazing, capable, confident adult-- but I'll always want her to stay smack dab in the middle of an innocence tsunami; where she'll see life through rose colored glasses, and dress like twins with her favorite doll. She's my first (and favorite) niece, and the person I spent hours comforting when her colicky body wouldn't settle. And while growing up is one of life's greatest inevitabilities, I'll keep wishing that I could keep her at the perfect age of five for a lifetime-- but she can't stay a kid forever, she said it herself.

...that doesn't mean I have to like it.