I didn’t even realize I had this rare picture of the girls and I together. I think the last time we snapped one was when Felicity, Serenity, and I went to Omaha to support Charity during tryouts for American Idol in season seven. She made it to the second phase, which earned us tickets to a day-long event. And…drum roll, please…we were on national television for almost three full seconds!
Anyway, that was a husband and three babies ago for Charity. The rest of us have lived a bit of life, too. We have written books and poems, earned degrees, reared toddlers into teenagers, chased dreams, and defeated cancer several times.
So, when I clicked across this picture from an afternoon together last summer, I stopped and smiled. There we are, four grown-up women hanging out in the city. Happier to be together than anywhere else in the world.
Back in my sleep-deprivation days when these ladies were babies, I sometimes wondered if we’d survive to get here. But, look! We did. If you happen to be in the middle of the never-going-to-the-bathroom-alone years, maybe this picture will give you hope. What I wrote in Once Upon a Childhood really is true. Your kids can grow up to become your best friends.
Absolutely!
I can’t believe you wondered if we would survive. I am scarred by this. I LOVE this post and this picture and these people!! You really do need to write a full-length bundle of goodness on being family. You guys were just so good at it. I’m trying so hard right now not to be scared that the best and only years that matter are totally racing by me. I can’t stop panicking that I only have nine more years of perfect. 🙁 Help me. (This post helps too.)
Oh, Serenity, the wonderful years have barely started! Wait until those boys are reproducing the wonderfulness in their own families and you get to bask in it instead of carrying all the weight of it. Glorious!!!
I needed this today! Thank you…
Oh, Emily. I can tell from your pictures and posts that you are bringing up an amazing family. It will pay off.