Milestones

Today was a pretty big day in the life of my step-daughter, C. She graduated from 4th grade today and will be leaving elementary school life behind forever. I met C when she was 6 years old - almost 7 to be exact. I remember the day I met her perfectly, one because I was madly in love with her dad and two because she and her cousin, T, were the cutest little girls I had ever seen (besides my sister, G, of course). I met them right at Halloween and remember Chad coming to the door holding the hands of these two itty bitty girls dressed to the nines. I remember that they were amazed by all the Halloween decorations my parents had up in the house and especially liked/were terrified of the animated zombie that laughed.

They were on their best behavior because I was a stranger - I would see the true little girls as Chad and I began dating, getting engaged, and eventually getting married. They were sometimes so cute it was ridiculous and sometimes so aggravating that I wanted to scream.

I remember when C was learning to read and write - now she reads constantly and has a beautiful cursive script. I remember taking her to the lake house for the first time and letting her intertube and how much she loved it. I remember the day I became her step-mother and how grown up she looked as my junior bridesmaid.

Even though C is a great kid, it hasn't been easy learning to step-parent - not because of her, but because it's just freakin' HARD (as any step-parent who is honest will tell you)! There are times that the two of us don't get along. And then there are times, like today, when the world stops for a minute and I realize just how precious she is and how fast she's growing up. She sat with me when the 4th grade had their Powerpoint presentation of pictures of the year set to music - one song in particular was "My Wish" - a song that I normally find cheesier than cheesy, but today it brought tears to my eyes. Time goes by so quickly and kids grow up so fast. One minute they are tiny 6 year olds holding your hand at church. The next, they are 10 and going to intermediate school in the fall.

I'm very very proud of C and all of her accomplishments this year. She is well-liked by all her classmates and teachers. She's smart, indepenent, and can be quite sassy when she has the mind to be. She's also sweet as pie. And cute as a button!