My own birthdays pass without either excitement or melancholy. I found forty to be a smaller deal than anticipated and still have a little time before I have to consider the ramifications of turning fifty.
It’s a bit different when it comes to the girls, mostly due to the absurdity of how much faster 365 days seem to pass in their lives. The oldest is now able to vote, to help shape the direction of the country. The youngest will be seven later this week, celebrated with family and friends this past weekend. The idea that she is now closer chronologically to being a teenager than to an infant is one that I choose not to think about.
Ironically it was actually last week when I was slapped in the face the hardest with her advancing age. Her speedy abandonment of me in search of other kids to play with at the park has been going on for a while now, that social interaction and exercise a big part of the reason we go there to begin with. I’m content to find an empty bench and supervise from afar, a spectator to games of tag or hide and seek.
Our second stop of the night was a little different, a memorial softball game being played by our high school team on the little league field where we now spend our Saturday mornings. Dedicated to a young player who tragically passed during a game last year, there were raffles and a cookout, the sort of community-creating event that I’ve found our town to make a surprising amount of effort trying to foster. I thought we’d grab a few hot dogs, watch a few innings of the big girls play and head home to tackle what seems to always be math homework on the nights when “helping” is my responsibility.
Instead, I was only needed to hand over some money for french fries, Gatorade and Big League Chew, suddenly finding myself watching this game by myself as well. I was told in no uncertain terms that she would be sitting on the bleachers with her friends, some teammates a year or so older than her, and that I should find my own spot to sit.
My little girl is growing up at an alarming pace, something that by now you’d think that I would realize. Somehow, however, she still manages to surprise me when I least expect it. No matter how prepared I think myself to be for these situations, I end up shaking my head in bewilderment and wondering what the hell just happened.
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Previously Published on thirstydaddy.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock
internal images courtesy of author
