The Window

 

Those big brown eyes.  That is what I remember. Peering out the window

looking,

 searching,

waiting,

 desperate for a place to belong.

It hadn’t been easy.  7 ½ is too young for so much heartbreak. 

Now belonging would be found a thousand miles away.

A fresh start, as they say.

So much hopeful anticipation.

But none of it was easy.

Getting what you want almost never is.

Learning to trust, learning to love takes time.

A frustrating process.

Then one day

With no fanfare and no warning

The pieces fell into place.

No longer was she the little girl peering out a window

She was our daughter. Filling a space where I hadn’t even known a space existed.

We were a family.

Now a new journey is beginning.

The little girl is grown and ready to start her own life.

I feel stuck.

Not yet ready to let go, but knowing I can’t hang on.

Now it will be me

Watching out the window as she steps into her future.

Knowing she must move forward, but silently wishing she could stay.

Another fresh start.

What she makes of it is now up to her.