The Longest Walk

The Teenager finished her graduation announcements the other night; it was quite an undertaking and I am still impressed that she insisted on doing the job herself, leaving me to do nothing but observe quietly from across the dining room table as she addressed, stuffed, sealed, and stamped each envelope.

She took the job quite seriously, and I watched in quiet awe as she double-checked her meticulously crafted lists; ensuring that she had included an invitation to the party preceding the graduation ceremony in all of the appropriate envelopes and not in the wrong ones.

I stifled a small giggle when she had a momentary brain-fart and failed to realize that 75+10=85, which, was the number of announcements that we had ordered, but, apparently, not the number she had fixed in her brain "We're missing two announcements! We are!" (We weren't).

I laughed out loud when, upon completing the task, she wiggled around in her chair uncomfortably until I suggested that she go ahead and drive the envelopes to the post office and be done with it; she was obviously anxious to have even that final task accomplished.

So, off she went, but, not before expressing her belief that the walk to the post box would be the longest walk of her life, which, caused an immediate slide show of all of the longest walks that I can remember taking in my life to flash through my head....High School graduation, college graduation, the long walk down the church aisle to meet her father at the alter, the walk (or, waddle, if you will) down the hospital corridor on our way to Labor and Delivery the day before she was born, the walk up the school sidewalk on her first day of kindergarten, her tiny hand tucked inside mine....and I couldn't help but think how fortunate I am to be here to watch her take this first longest walk of her life.

I am truly blessed.