five minute friday | "view"

Today I'm participating in Lisa-Jo Baker's "Five Minute Friday" series. It's a great little weekly series on a one word topic that I love seeing pop up in my email on Friday mornings. The rules are simple: set a timer for five minutes, write on the day's topic without editing or backtracking, stop when five minutes are up.

"View"

I put the car in drive and then stop next to the curb where she stands with my mama waving me goodbye. It's the same routine I had with my boy that broke my heart and filled it with joy and gratefulness every day for five years. She waves her chubby hand, arm moving with her own unique coordination. "Buh-bye" she calls, quiet enough for me to almost not hear. And then I watch her in my rearview all the way down the street. And around the corner until I have to look forward to the day ahead.

I haven't written much about her since she changed my life seventeen months ago. She was a surprise. Not planned. And that she was a "she"....I just never saw it coming. But then she came and my life looked different all at once and now I have to learn how to do girl hair.

I spend a lot of time looking in the rearview of life. How did I mess that up? How could I have done differently? But at some point we have to turn our eyes forward.

She asks me to carry her a lot. She likes the view from up high (as high as a relatively short person can carry her, anyway). It must be like when I ask the Father to carry me. My world from His perspective is just always better.

STOP.