The big eyes, the innocent smile, the cutest face you could ever imagine, crowned with dark curly hair........ The face captivated me when I was at a recent party. And for a second I wondered why. You see, I'm in my mid forties and she is 13 months old! And then it came piling down on me..... her face was eerily familiar to my daughter's when she was her age (my daughter is 19 years old now). So I stepped towards this doll-like little girl and there was this unexplainable, instant connection. She came to me willingly and for the next 2-3 hours, I entertained her and she took me on a wonderful trip down the memory lane.....
In those 2 hours or so, my daughter's childhood years flashed by. And it was almost heaven on earth! I was back in time, reliving the first smile, the first steps, the occasional pout.... And somehow, I can't explain how, I felt that this little girl probably sensed what was going on and helped me out by sticking with me for the whole evening. For that brief period of time, it was the good old days again..... when nothing came close to the excitement of watching her smile, when she's the boss and you do her bidding, when you voluntarily lose connection to the world for that moment and it's just you and your child.
How I wish the clock could be turned back! But I know that can't happen. Why do children have to grow up so fast? But this little bundle of joy did take me back in time and helped me relive some wonderful childhood memories of my daughter. But that's the cycle of life, moments in the past are gone forever and what's left is memories to cling on to.
The next time I meet that wonderful little girl, I don't know whether she'll remember me or not, she might have another favorite person that evening (maybe one of her aunts, whom she totally ignored the day I was the chosen one!!) But thanks a million to her, that day she helped me connect to a beautiful period in my past and flooded me with wonderful recollections of the great time I had with my daughter when she was growing up.
Make every day special, create beautiful moments, so that you have wonderful memories to look back to!
