Fish and Chips Story — The Story of Us

12. Working vocal chords on my children.

11. The strength to clean my house and scrub my toilets.

8. A soft leather couch to sink into.

9. A house for my soft leather couch to sit in.

10. A job to pay the mortgage.

7. Enough peanut butter and jelly for us and the neighbor kids.

6. Piles of laundry: that means I have clothes to wear, electricity and water to wash them, a family to dirty them, and a machine to clean them.

5. Unexpected encouragement from friends.

4. My daughters voice as she counts by 2’s.

3. The feel of my daughters soft cheek under my lips as she sleeps soundly.

1. Tears that burn your cheeks as they fall in repentance.

2. Deep breaths filling your lungs in serenity.

I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see it coming.  One minute I looked over at Alora and she was a toddler and now she is turning into a little girl.  I see it in her eyes, my baby is growing up into a fine young woman.  Why did no one warn me about this?