my bug-eyed beaut'

you know how sometimes on tv they have the elapsed time photography of something magical that usually happens in a shroud of mystery, but then they go there and set up their cameras and wait and wait and then we get to sit at home and watch it happen in seconds? (what is that like a 50 word sentence?)

but you know what i mean - the amazing flower going from tiny little bud to amazing burst of color and majesty right before your very eyes. like that.

sometimes i feel like i'm watching that - a little bit, not a lot (kind of like the 2-second loop of the weather moving 1cm on the radar) - with my daughter, lauryn. it's like she's ever so gently, ever so slowly unfurling right before my very eyes. and some days i stand in genuine awe and amazement to see the beauty and the joy that is my daughter. that is lauryn. not my daughter, really - just her very own self.

there are moments when the intoxicating fragrance of her catches me be surprise and i have to stop what i'm doing and breathe deeply. drinking her into my very cells. her laugh. her determination. her spark. those big tropical sky-like brown eyes- mostly sunny and clear, but sometimes uncertain, even rainy. her still-tiny hands on my face, arms tightly clinging to my neck. the actual feel of her skin under my lips. that she still fits in my lap. her delight in living things - especially animals. these are the moments when i feel so tinkerbell-ish; like i've been sprinkled with fairy dust and i really could just float away with my happy thought that is lauryn elisabeth.

she caught a frog yesterday. and i was so proud. i felt like - like i had the coolest kid on the block. did you know lauryn caught a frog? i said to everyone with ears. tell 'em, lauryn - i said almost gloating (i bet your kid doesn't catch frogs.) but not quite (thank god because, really that's not at all what it was about). and she was proud too. she wanted to tell everyone. and she did. and, of course, when our audiences were duly impressed, i would fill in that she catches lizards too. regularly. (can you see the aloof smirk on my face?) oh yes, she really is something else, isn't she?

i love feeling this way about lauryn. i wish it was possible to feel those feelings 24/7 (do i really wish that? i guess that would be nice.) but alas, this is the real world and i sho nuff don't. but for now, let's just revel in this bliss. let's flounce carelessly in the fairytale fields and meadows of the times when we are fully aware of - immersed in - the magic and wonder of our children, for they are not so close together as we'd like them to be.

i'll close with a quote from Anne Lammot's superaweseomgreat book, Plan B (this is majorly paraphrased due to the slow but steady removal of my brain tissue through my breasts over the last 4 years)... blah blah blah here it is: unconditional love is real and attainable, it's just that it only lasts for about 8 to 10 seconds at a time.