OK now you can't laugh too hard at me when I tell you that I was an emotional mess for...eh...about a week when I got an email from one of Emily Grace's friends at school's mommy. I know. An email right?! Just kidding! She was inviting EG to come to their house after school last Friday. She would pick both girls up and bring them to her house! I was SO excited for her. But at the same time it made me want to cry! This was the first play date. Alone. At a friend of HER'S not in our circle of friends! I mean come on...the girl has had her fair share of play dates if you know what I mean! But THIS was that moment as a mom that I didn't really fully think about how BIG it was for....ME! Jut a few years ago this was her:

A vibrantly feisty wee little girl! She is my precious angel! She is my "do-gooder". The first one to help. The first one to OFFER to help! She is my little best friend! And in a matter of months she went from this cute little curly haired toddler to a little...girl.



She is growing up so fast! I don't know if my heart can handle it! Before I would say yes to the play date I did have some questions for the family. Now the family aren't COMPLETE strangers as they DO attend EG's preschool and I have worked side by side with her mom on a few events for the school. We talk in the carpool lane and she is a mom of 3 girls and the oldest is 16! So she KNOWS what this moment is like (although she is now onto the driving moments and the boyfriend moments...don't even get me started!) My number one question for her was:

1. Do you have any guns in the house?
2. If yes, how do you store them?

That was THE one thing that worried me the most! I was installing her car seat into their minivan so I knew that she was safe there. EG knows how to clip herself into the seat so I knew she would be tight enough and the harness would in the correct spots (I am very type A when it comes to the car seats with my kids! And yes...she is still in a 5 point harness car seat at age 5!)

I went to Thurston High School (Graduated somewhere else) and we had the tragic "Thurston Shooting". Since then my number one fear are those parents that do not store their guns properly. I was raised a farm girl. My parents are avid hunters. But I was raised with knowledge on gun safety. I am not a gun girl! BUT the thing is there are so many people out there that have guns, we may not even realize it AND they don't keep them in a special gun case cabinet LOCKED where children cannot get to them. Can we say scary?! Thankfully they do not nor will not own guns! The few nights before the play date I discussed with EG again about how "we do not keep secrets". If someone were to ask her to keep a secret...sorry but she is telling me! We also discussed our nether-regions and about how they are HER private areas and no one is allowed to touch her there. All these things that I pray never happens to my child (nor any other child) but I want her to be aware in case something ever did happen. It is so sad that there is so much we have to fear and prepare our children for...I wish it wasn't that way!

The morning of we prayed in the car as we do every morning. I kissed her and she told me "mommy...don't cry!" She let me take her picture:


And all I could think was "WOW...you are about to fly little birdy." She has my heart. She is my world. She is the first to hear my heart from the inside. She knows my inner being. I love her with every breath and beat of my heart. She will always be my baby.

We arrived at school and her friend ran out of the classroom and was jumping up and down with excitement waiting for her! The girls screeched with glee and this mama did her best to hold back the tears. Of course that never works! They were not tears of sadness they were tears of joy!

They had a wonderful play date. Ate popcorn, played dress up, had lunch, watched princess sing-alongs, made crafts. And when she arrived at home she was on cloud 9! Which made me even happier for her! Maybe the next time will be a little bit easier? Man, I sure hope so!