Eight is looming large on the horizon for my oldest, Hannah. Eight will be a hard birthday for both her Dad and me to take. After all, Eight is just around the corner from the double digits, and you know what comes after that.
Hannah plays all the time with a neighbor, Margo. She lives just outside our neighborhood and across the road. We can see their second story from our house. One time we even heard their security alarm going off. Margo just turned 8. A couple of months ago, Margo’s parents let her cross that street by herself and walk to our house. It has become the norm. Today, Hannah was heading over there to play after school. She wanted to walk. I said, “okay, you know how to be safe.” It was no big deal. She called me when she got there, as I can’t exactly see her the whole way – especially on the part where she crosses the street.
The enormity hit me a while later. It’s like some line has been crossed in her growing up. She doesn’t need me to help her cross the street anymore.
I believe that my favorite part of this story is that when it was time for her to branch out to something new, I knew she was prepared. Oh, my hope and fervent prayer, is that that peace will continue.