While some people could not wait to bid 2016 ado, I said farewell with some sadness. This past year will always hold a special place in my heart because it is the year that I stared into my daughter’s brilliant blue eyes for the first time and fell in love.
In that first moment, I did not think that I could adore her more; but in the days after, when I saw her first smile, heard her first laugh, and felt her first hug, I did. The wonder and delight I see in my daughter’s face each day as she makes discoveries and goes on adventures has transformed the way I view the world. In each place, there is possibility, and in each moment there is magic.
This, of course, was the greatest lesson of 2016. It hard to avoid wishing away the time when one is fatigued from an all night feeding frenzy or housebound during a winter storm with a fretful child.
However, time is fleeting.
The sleepy four-pound infant of the spring is gone, and in her place is a precocious eighteen-pound tyke who far too exuberant about the world to make time for something so mundane as an midmorning nap.
Thus, this coming year I have resolved to take a cue from my child and enthusiastically embrace each tranquil and turbulent moment. Happy New Year!