Thirteen

Today my only girl is 13.

She has grown up so much in the last year, and yet I still have so much I want her to know.

I want her to dream bigger-than-life dreams but I want her to stay close to me.

I am alternately bursting with pride in the young woman she is becoming and rolling my eyes at the stubborn teen that is all huffs and sass.

I am incredibly thankful for her.

Mary Polly’s actual birthday will be pretty low key because we have planned a grand adventure to which she and I are counting down the days.

A dream come true.

And as dream trips tend to do, I hope it will spur on in her a wanderlust that will take her to faraway places on her own.

I hope she will go…

There and back again.

To share her stories with me.