From Barbies to College
My youngest, Kira, turned 19 this week, and honestly, I’m still trying to figure out how that’s possible.
How does it go by so quickly? How do you go from Barbies scattered across the floor to college plans and grown-up conversations? One minute you’re packing school lunches and hunting for tiny plastic shoes, and the next you’re looking at this beautiful young woman and wondering where the years went.
I’ll be sharing two pictures because my heart apparently enjoys emotional damage. One is a recent photo of Kira, and the other is her in kindergarten, all little smiles and big dreams. Side by side, it’s enough to make any mom blink a little too hard.
There’s something about seeing those two versions of her at once that really gets me. The little girl who was just starting out. The young woman she’s become. Same spark. Same heart. Just somehow taller, wiser, and a whole lot closer to the future than I’m prepared for.
Nineteen feels big. It feels like standing in a doorway between the girl she was and the woman she’s becoming. And as proud as I am, there’s still that part of me asking, wasn’t she just in kindergarten? Wasn’t that just yesterday?
Being a mom is strange like that. You spend years in the middle of the chaos, the school runs, the messes, the endless snacks, the little moments that feel ordinary at the time. Then one day you look up and realize those ordinary moments were the magic. They were the years you’d do anything to hold still for just a little longer.
I’m so proud of Kira. Proud of the person she is, proud of the path she’s on, proud of the strength and kindness she carries with her. Nineteen looks beautiful on her, even if I’d personally like to request that time slow all the way down.
Happy birthday, Kira. I love you more than words, and I’m so grateful I got to be your mom through Barbies, kindergarten, and now college.
Still not over it. Probably never will be.
All the best,
Tia
