Our Evening

My beautiful baby girl,

You are a week shy of turning a year old,

but I swear you already know true beauty 

and wonder when you see it.

Tonight, we sat out on the balcony as the sun sank into the ocean

and you seemed to truly appreciate the incredible act of nature

that was occurring before your beautiful blue eyes.

You kept pointing out at the sky and talking.

It's as if you were trying to say,

"Look, look Momma, isn't it pretty."

So yes baby girl, it was very pretty

and I loved sharing every moment of it with you.

I wish there was some way for me to make it so that

the world you know is always as wonderful as a sunset,

free of all the craziness and 

hustle and bustle that is actually out there.

I know I can't do that, but I hope I can at least teach you

to slow down, take a step back, and enjoy the little things in life.

You will see plenty of sunsets, smell plenty of flowers,

and listen to plenty of thunderstorms,

but my hope for you is that you will take the time 

to enjoy every single one of those moments,

those small wonders of the world that most people take for granted,

with the same enthusiasm as you did tonight.

If you can remember to do that

then the life you create for yourself will be

as beautiful and as bright as the sunset we watched together tonight.

Momma loves you with all her heart Emma Claire.

You are my world.