They grow so fast....

Yeah, I'm a little nostalgic. I make my kids swear on their birthdays that they won't grow any older that year, but they always break their promises. Athos is so proud that his shadow is almost as tall as my shadow when we walk side by side. The whole thought of him growing throws me into a spin. Wasn't it just a few months ago that he came up to my knees and his little fist held on to my pinkie like a round lifesaver circling a drowning child? I was his tether. I'm not sure what I am to him anymore. I wrote a poem for him and thought I'd share. To Athos and to growing older....

WATER NYMPH

Dancing at the edge of the ocean,
you,
a tadpole wriggling
through shallow waters,
sleek, tiny muscles
shaking
on the brink
of the blue expanse,

On the beach, I sit and watch,
my usual perch,
Far enough away to give you space,
but close enough to catch
if you go under.

How did we come to this shore?

Wasn’t it moments ago
I pushed you into waiting arms,
bled pain like fire?
My hands, seaweed bindings,
gathered you hungrily to my chest--
a touch to ease the salt
poured on the wound
of separation.

Now, you dash
headlong strong
into the waves,
arms akimbo, head and hair thrown
back: exultant, skinny, unafraid
of the grey water
licking at your knees,
sucking at your toes.

If I turn my head for a moment,
the ocean might pull you under
and you’ll emerge,
changed,
like foam,
like a myth,
a drop bursting to spray.