Mi Hija

Tonight I drove Eliza and two of her friends home from Activity Days at the church. As they giggled and talked in the back seat I couldn't believe how grown-up Eliza sounded. They talked about clothes, the friendship activity they had tonight, and their pets. At one point one of the girls asked Eliza about her boots, which are very hip, and I had this little flashback of Eliza at three years old wearing Dora the Explorer shoes. It really wasn't that long ago, was it? I swear it was just a couple of months ago that she had little piggy-tails and overalls on with matching socks and Dora shoes. I just gained admittance into the 'where does the time go' club. It is no longer a cliche. My baby girl, who eleven years ago didn't exist, is chit-chatting with her friends about big things. She has interests and opinions that I have no control over. She is her own person. Another cliche that now makes complete sense.

I used to have to peel her off of me to hand her off to her school teachers and now she happily (for the most part) jumps out of the car each morning with her backpack full of thick books and her violin case and runs off to see her friends. She asks important questions and 'gets' just about everything now. The shy little girl who never liked to try anything new burst through the door yesterday after her Spanish class and shouted, "Hola, amiga! Como esta? Me llamo Eliza!"

Just a few short years ago I used to read 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' to her each night, and tonight she is bed laughing her head off, reading 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. Today when I was in her classroom I noticed that she was reading Pride and Prejudice from the Abridged Classics books that I started buying before I had kids. I used to pick them up here and there, figuring that my future children would read them, but seeing it in her hands today, I couldn't believe that day was here. (The version she is working on has a drawing on the front of the characters and one of her classmates asked if the guy was Elvis. I guess the big hair and sideburns have crossed the lines of centuries...I love that Eliza knows who Mr. Darcy is!!)

Time is a' flyin'!

I think of my Grandmother, who must experience these kinds of stop-you-in-your-tracks moments all the time. I am in awe that my first-born is already talking about Jr. High; I can't imagine seeing her daughter's daughter growing up and beginning her life as a young woman. Maybe that is one of the reasons I am so fascinated with my ancestors, especially the women. There is something about seeing a long line of women who accomplish great things, even if those are quiet great things. They have children and then they have children...I only hope that Eliza can be as happily content with her children as I am with mine.