Doesn’t really seem like it was that long ago…..
I once knew a girl who had a baby boy…a beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed little one he was. Her heartbeat, she called him. Then two and a half years later, that girl I knew, she had another darling son. This one, olive-skinned with the biggest eyes you’ve ever seen on a baby boy.
This girl – she loved the whole “baby thing”. She was good at it too, I think. Changing diapers didn’t bother her; she knew the best baby food to buy, and when the cute infant clothes were on sale at the mall. And – rocking sleeping babies in her arms – she lived for those moments.
Four years later, this girl I knew was overjoyed to welcome a third little-one-in-blue into her world. This one slightly plump with the most incredible smile. Sometimes, when she would look at the baby pictures of her third-born and her first-born sons, she’d have to do a double-take.
That girl I knew, she adored every second of having little ones in her home. Those boys of hers grew into toddlers and preschoolers, and she laughed and loved them through it all.
Mysterious how that girl walked so quietly out of my life. She never said “Goodbye”, she never slammed the door closed behind her. She was just gone. There are days when I, so very much, miss that girl I once knew.
Today, I am getting to know another girl. A woman she is. A woman who is mother to teenaged treasures. This woman I know, she can still look into the face of her nearly 20 year old son, and see a giggly, red-cheeked little boy playing peek-a-boo. This woman–she’s also blessed to call another 17 year old precious soul her son. That son, he still has those big, big eyes. Those eyes that she always saw in her own reflection and never appreciated—she now sees them in her son and admires them—and the spirit behind the eyes ever so much more. Oh, and this woman that I know…God smiled on her for a third time allowing her to be mom to yet another sweet cherub who is right on the heels of teendome. He’s straight from heaven. He’s all hers; he’s her baby and she adores him. He’s turning 13, and she wonders—where, on earth, the years have gone?
This woman I know, she’s grateful—ever-grateful—for her three beautiful sons. And yet, she can’t help but fondly remember – A girl she once knew. 
“How’d it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon,
December is here before it’s June,
My goodness how the time has flewn,
How did it get so late so soon?”
~ Dr. Seuss
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