Last summer we were at a Pool Party. Family attended, as well as extended family, and friends who have practically become family. We had plenty of persons to socialize with, and there was an entire mob of children for our daughters to run with, jump with, climb with, and swim with. The girls practically forgot we existed that day, only grudgingly accepting the Chinet plates of grilled food we forced down their throats.

At one point I was between conversations, content and alone for a few minutes. I just looked out at the scene, it was then that I noticed Lydia walk past me, toward the deep end of the pool. She was looking out at the pool, waved to her cousin and said something to him.

Something about the way she was carrying herself struck me. She was not walking like a little girl, more like an older version of herself. Somehow I felt like I was given a very brief glimpse into what she might look like as a young lady.

This young lady had a curved and small nose. She still had her bright eyes, high eyebrows and a dainty mouth topped with a cupid’s bow. She was poised, comfortable in her setting and confident in her inevitable jump into the deep end. There was an ease of dialogue with her peers, there was an ease of self.

I was awestruck. “Goodness! She is beautiful.” I thought. Someday she will be needing a bra. She will be dating, and she’ll have a cell phone number. In ten short years, she will be a legal adult, she will be voting and driving and going to college, she’ll have a mailing address that isn’t our Home. She will be falling in Love and getting married and I could be a Grandpa and…and…I took a long meaningful sip of my beer and waved back at her before she pinched her nose and bravely plunged into the pool.

Stop plunging into pools! You still need me to hold you as you frantically kick your feet squealing “I’m doing it Daddy!” Now? Now you’re not even using a flotation device! You’re just swimming around.

She ditched her flotation device. When did that happen?

There are so many firsts. She uses a planner these days, she has a laptop for school. Her charter school has her deciding and working out her own schedule. She’s becoming more thoughtful, she’s beginning to ask me questions about morality, religion, the Big Bang Theory (yes, she actually asked about that) and politics.

There’s a similar situation with her little sister. Regina is enjoying new firsts nearly every day. She knows how to get to her classroom on her own. She’s making her first friends, she’s developing facets in her life that not include us.

Both of my girls keep jumping into deeper pools.

Annie and I have a growing list as well. Regina’s 4K teacher also taught Lydia. So we’ve been pulling some familiar schoolwork out of her backpack. She is singing some time-honored classics (they’re classics to us at least). There’s the Hip-Hop Alphabet song, the Humpty Dumpty Song (Reggie sings it with sillier fervor than Lydia did). This week’s Alpha-Friend is Fifi the Fish, it won’t be long until the Zelda Zebra song gets stuck in our heads. Last week was “Colors Week”, she brought Home a picture of a boisterously painted yellow submarine. It was virtually identical to the yellow submarine Lydia brought Home when she was in 4K. Regina is telling us about the different play centers in her room, and what she had for snack-time. We are looking forward to the pumpkin farm field trip. It is slowly sinking in, that this Field Trip is a 4K thing. We won’t be chaperoning this field trip ever again after this. It’s occurring to us that as her list of “firsts” grows, our list of “lasts” is also growing.

That beautiful young lady I described earlier is with her younger sister, that younger sister will probably be slightly taller than her older sister. She will probably have a tougher, sassier demeanor, and will be more thoughtfully dressed than her older sister. They both have multi-colored eyes, like their father.

She’ll be defiant, and will have an incredibly dry and outrageous sense of humor. These two beautiful young ladies are running errands with me and we’ve decided to hit the bookstore for a literary treat before heading Home. They are sitting at a cafe table across from me, sipping their coffees and having a running commentary about every individual within sight. They are cracking themselves up, they are cracking each other up, they are cracking me up.

As I’m writing this, I’m thinking about that ridiculously overpainted yellow submarine, the one presented by Lyd and the one presented by Reg. How did this happen? Regina was a newborn only a couple months ago, or rather it feels like it was only a couple months ago. When they are teenagers, how recent will those yellow submarine pictures feel? These days are going by at a terribly fast pace. Each year it goes faster, and each year I feel less equipped to deal with speed. I’m becoming scared that this interaction at the bookstore coffee shop will be happening far too soon. Day to day, the stress, the fatigue, and my little girls will not be little girls for much longer.

What a privilege parenting has been. What a privilege it is. What a privilege it will be.

“Hey Daddy!”

“What?” as I noted my empty beer.

“Want to watch me jump again? I’ll try it without my goggles this time!”

“It would be a privilege to witness such a thing Sweetie.”