The walk down that infamous lane called Memory

Of course she’s been on my mind lately.

Nineteen.

Graduation from high school about to be in the rearview mirror.

So much change about to be her world.

Having nine years between child number one and child number the rest has always been a heart-wrenching way to raise a family.

That age gap has allowed an obvious opportunity to watch time pass.

And my, how the time has passed.

Graduation is barely a week away.

So maybe you’ll humor me a little as I share a handful of little Riley pictures.

The little Former Rileys who make up the Now Riley.

When she let me pick out her clothes and choose her haircut.

The baby Riley we had to imagine.

The Riley who loved to pose for photos.

The Riley who hugged baby after baby.

First camping trip.  Burned boots at the fire and accidents in the woods.

When we lived in Virginia we had baby goats – loads of them.  21 I think.

And the summer the babies were all born – all eight of them – Riley and Austin spent nearly every waking moment watching and playing with those tiny pygmy cuties.

Kevin has always been creative at creating costumes and Riley’s elementary school had annual dress-up days.

She’s worn a mullet, a soccer ball cut to fit her head like a helmet, dressed as Laura Ingalls and who can remember what else.

One of my favorites was the day she was one of the seven dwarves.  Her pillow belly was too big to fit in her desk.

And all on her own, she adored dressing up just like Kevin.

We found a shirt at Goodwill once that had the name “Kev” embroidered on the pocket.

She consistently wore it and asked us to refer to her as “Little Kev”.

Ah – the Little Rileys were so much fun.

It hurts my heart a little to sort through all these memories.

But it’s a good kind of hurt – of the distinctly bittersweet variety.

Goodness – she was a cute and hilarious tiny person.

We spent so many days together – just she and I – before more babies arrived.  Daily long drives to and from school in my little blue Tercel.  Tuck ins at night with stories and songs.  Playing Racko with my mom and cooking dinners together.  Years of homeschool where my student to teacher ratio was one to one.

Sweet years with a sweet girl who is now a sweet adult.

As lovely now as she was cute then.