You are sitting on my lap, more vulnerable, more trusting than you will ever be again in your life. I am the center of your universe. You adore me and hang on every word, no matter how small or insignificant.
I count the freckles on your neck, sniff your intoxicating hair, watch your delicate eyelashes flutter as you focus on the book in front of you. We read, and although I am trying to concentrate on the book, I keep thinking about you, about you growing up, about you becoming your own person.
One day soon you too will be preparing for college just like your sister is now. In a flash you will be 18. You will not need me to read to you, to take care of you, and I will have to send you out into the world on your own.
In a twinkling, our world as I know it now will shatter.