"I'm Not a Baby Anymore!!"

Dear Bloggers,

Sometimes, reality is a hard thing to accept, but no matter how long you try to live in denial sooner or later, you have to accept the truth.

Today is my baby sister Kayla’s graduation. For me, it’s an unreal day. I’m six years older than Kayla, so I’ve seen her in most of her walks in life. My sisters and I used to talk to my mother’s pregnant stomach while Kayla was incubating in there. We saw her as an infant, and she was my nemesis for years (stole my “baby” status and stole my thunder, it took me some years to get over that). I watched her take her first steps, and now I’m privileged to watch her take her first steps into adulthood.

However, whenever I look at Kayla, I don’t see a blooming adult, I still see a young toddler with “rosy cherubim-like cheeks” (my sister Kelli’s description), and sucking a pacifier.

But, Kayla has traded in her pacifier for make-up and multiple college acceptance letters. Still, I haven’t fully traded in my protective sense for reality I instead find myself shielding her from the cursing in some of my favorite movies (“NO!! You can’t watch Fight Club!! How old are you? 8?” “I’M 16!!”)

While I watch her start to get ready for a landmark in her life, I plan to work on a landmark for all older siblings and start trying to accept her for the wonderful person that she is now, not the child she used to be.

STAY ENCOURAGED!!