I have a fabulous pair of shoes.В No one else has a pair quite like them.В They are attention-grabbers, and I love them.В I also love the story behind them.В I bought them when I was pregnant with my second child.В It was hot.В I was enormous.В And, I figured that if I had to spend the summer like that, at least my feet would look good.
I have been showing off my feet in those shoes for seven years.В I know I’ve had them for seven years because tomorrow, my son will turn seven.В I’m not sure how that happened.
Just yesterday, he was an giganticВ baby about whom perfect strangers would make rude comments.В Today, he is a first grader who decided to make his own dinner tonight because he didn’t like what I was serving.В His «Buzz Da-do» (otherwise known as Buzz Lightyear) lunchbox has been traded for a Boston Red Sox one and books by Sandra Boynton are buried under the chapter books he now reads to himself.В He can quote Phineas & Ferb, but if his life depended on it, he probably could not name a train from Thomas the Tank Engine.
I’m one of those mothers who does not lament the days gone by.В I always think that the stage my children are in is so exciting that it more than makes up for the fact that the only person in my house who is still taking naps is the dog.В I loved when they went to elementary school, because what can be more exciting than learning to read.В Watching them climb into that big, yellow bus didn’t bring tears to my eyes, but rather made me smile in anticipation of the world they would discover.В I don’tВ want to have a toddler, again, but I still can’t get my arms around the fact that my baby is seven.
Big kids are seven.В They are self-sufficient.В They have opinions.В They are recycling phrases we used when we were seven and think that they invented them.В I remember being seven not vague memories, but all of it.В How can it be that my youngest has now reached the age when he will remember everything that happens from here on out.What happened to that little boy who only ate watermelon for one wh*le week and stillВ weighed a ton?When did he go from being a boy who played with play-do to one who beats me at (any game) on the Wii?Just yesterday, I was trotting around in my fabulous shoes that I couldn’t see over my pregnant stomach, dreaming of a little boy who played baseball and had a solid hook shot.
Tomorrow, that little boy is turning seven.
I blinked and he grew up.В He does play baseball.В The hook shot is still a work in progress.В I want time to slow down just a little.В I want to write down all the cute things he used to say before I forget them.В I want to bottle his laughter and have him sit still long enough to tickle his toes.В I want to curl up on the couch with him and take a long nap.В I want to keep my eyes open so I won’t blink and discover that he is turning 10 or getting his driver’s license or leaving for college.
Tomorrow, my little boy turns seven..and, to celebrate, I will be wearing one fabulous pair of shoes!
Like this:
MY COUSIN IS SLEEPING WITH MY WIFE в
