Time - Please STOP

It is 9:00pm on a Thursday.

Im soaking in the bathtub after a particularly long day, doing nothing but being a vegetable, when I hear a very odd noise coming from my bedroom.

My 13 year old daughter is laying on the floor with the dogs, listening to her iPod…singing at the top of her lungs. Now, it is not the best singing you will ever hear, but to me it is wonderful – perfect – fantastic. And, it made me cry. I sit here and cry quietly, listening to her being the most happy 13-year-old I had ever heard.

Just the thought of her being with me, 10 days ahead of us with nothing to do but goof off and play, without a care in the world – makes me so incredibly happy. For once I am the one watching one of those perfect moments with my child, not just reading about someone else’s experience, or hearing about something a co-workers child had done. I am the one experiencing something fantastic and memorable and touching and beautiful.

I sit there listening, wishing this moment would never end, and wishing more than anything that I could stop time.