Crossing the Street

We are in this crazy transition stage right now – with our new lives beginning in Florida, but all of our belongings and our home still back in Illinois. New jobs for my husband and me, new schools for the kids. We are definitely enjoying the newness of it all and exploring all the theme parks, resorts, and beaches that Florida has to offer – I honestly cannot keep up on all the amazing things we do and beautiful places we go on my blog. It’s just THAT amazing.

But then something happened that was so uneventful – mundane, even – that stopped me in my tracks and made gravity pull my heart right down to the floor:

I took my daughter to school in the morning.

Everything was fine. The sun was shining. We were actually on time. Arielle was looking studious in her voluntary school uniform as we walked hand-in-hand on the sidewalk towards the school. It was the usual morning chaos in the school zone area – moms and dads walking their kids to school with crossing guards, cars, bicycles, and busses everywhere…

Then, everything went in slooooooow moooootion. The crossing guards start to make their way towards the center of the road – lifting their arms up with their flashing STOP signs in one hand and creating an invisible protective shield with their other hand. The cars yielded. All of a sudden, I felt this sense of urgency – Quick! I have to send her on her way before the crossing guards remove their invisible force field!

I let go of her tiny hand and she looked ahead to cross that street by herself. I imagined a tiny creature in her body puffing up and filling her with courage. It’s a rare occasion for my six-year-old to cross the street without holding a grown-up’s hand.

But I couldn’t let her go just yet. “Arielle, wait!” She stopped in her tracks and looked back at me, then back at the road ahead. I took a few steps towards her, tucked her hair behind her ear and gave her a reassuring smile and said, “Have a good day, honey.”

I rested my hands on my knees so we were about eye-level and hesitated.

Will she do it?

Will she kiss me?

I hear too many stories from traumatized moms whose kids refuse to kiss them in public places. I would die.

To my delight, her face lit up and she kissed me quickly and said, “Okay, Mommy! Love you!” and turned around and made her way across the street.

A photo posted by Gracielle (@mommya_z) on

Just like that. Of all the crazy things that are happening right now, that simple interaction hit me like a ton of bricks. How did she get to be so big, so fast?

My favorite part was after she made it safely across the street, she looked back to make sure I was still watching her. She gave me a silly little wave and went about her way. I took one final panoramic glance at the morning scene before heading about my way and realized that she is still a tiny human being in the grand scheme of things.

For the record, this did not make me cry. It just blew my mind for a moment – my daughter crossing the street. Who knew?

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Comments

  1. When I see Scarlet with her too-big backpack walk into school every morning, it breaks my heart each time. And then when she yells out, “I love you!” it puts my heart back together each time. May it last..
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  2. This is so sweet. Little ones grow up so fast. My kids are older now but we are still having some ”firsts”, like driving and first jobs. That sense of how did they get to be so big is still there. I will comment back ­ http://www.oldefashionmom.com/

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