Cuddle Up A Little Closer

Today, at 7:30 a.m., my Pre-Pubescent One turned 13. I find myself completely befuddled as to how thirteen years flew by so quickly.

I'm not going to write one of those sappy posts about how my little boy is turning into a man. Not to spare you from the treacle of my sentiments, but to prevent myself from turning into a weepy Wilma. I find that I am ridiculously emotional today.

Birthdays don't usually affect me this way, but this birthday is a big milestone. He's a teenager now. And once, his adulthood seemed so very far in the future. But suddenly, it is just a few short years away.

In three years he will be driving.

In five years, he will graduate high school.

And from there, the leaving begins.

He will leave for college. He will leave home to move into his first apartment. He will leave me for another woman. He may leave the town, the state, or even the country of his birth. He will leave behind the identity that we have helped him build and become a new person away from our watchful eyes. He will leave the protective cover of my outstretched wing, and venture out into the world.

I don't want to think about it.

I want to think about him snuggled up in the rocker with his head on my shoulder. I want to think about the squick squick sounds as he sucked his thumb, and the way he used to hum around it while I sang to him.

Cuddle up a little closer, lovey mine. Cuddle up and be my little clinging vine. Those are the words I sang once upon a time. But it doesn't take long for the little clinging vine to grow into a creeping one. And then what?

I don't know. I'm all out of metaphors, botanical or otherwise. What I do know is that it happened way too fast. And the next five years are going to go by faster still.

SIGH. So much for not getting sappy and emotional.



Happy Birthday....Pubescent One