Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Bottles on a Shelf

I've been listening to your personal jam session with Rock Band for the past hour and it makes me want to bottle you up so I can enjoy this moment over and over. Oh the shelf that bottle would sit on! It would be nestled in among thousands of other tiny glass jars--the ones holding the sounds of your baby giggles or the one that holds the image of your smile the day of your first tball game.

If only I could have a shelf like that. One that I could visit any time to relive those experiences again and again.

Tonight you're five. You haven't mastered reading yet, so you sing the words you know by heart and fudge the rest adding in woots and yeahs as you see fit.

No stage fright. No performance anxiety. You haven't discovered those yet.

There are tears in my eyes and my heart feels like it's ready to burst just listening to you sing without a care in the world. I wish I could keep the world this way for you forever--the way it is right now. But I can't keep those bottles on the shelf and I can't stop you from growing up.

My hope however is this: No matter how old you are you'll always sing with abandon and be exactly who you want to be regardless of who is watching.

3 Deserve Mamma's Love:

greyfavorite said...

I'm not a mamma, but this strikes a chord in the heart of this aunt of three wee ones. Thanks for sharing.

karey m. said...

ugh. killing me, this one.

Not Afraid to Use It said...

When my daughter laughs, the phrases that come to mind are "laughter tinkling" and "peals of laughter". The sound is so bright, so fresh. As you so eloquently wrote, if I could bottle it for my shelf, I would uncork it in secret and dab it on my wrists and behind my ears so I could carry the sound of her innocence and happiness forever.