In the days leading up to her 5th birthday, the Lily Bug grew increasingly anxious. As much as she was excited by the hype of her birthday (and the hope of her Trash Pack Street Sweeper wish coming true) she was terrified at what she would suddenly become, on the day of her birthday. Would she wake up and discover she’d grown into an adult all at once? Would she suddenly be too big to play with toys and run around a playground?
Despite our reassurances that she’d still be the same height on Feb 4th as she was on the 3rd, she had taken the notion of suddenly becoming a ‘big’ five year old to heart, and began waking from bad dreams in the night, refusing to sleep and even wetting her bed. It was only on the morning of her birthday when she woke to realise she was still a little girl, and made me measure her height just to be sure, that she finally relaxed – and got on with enjoying life through the eyes of a five year old. Which are, initially at least, very much like the eyes of a four year old.
Me on the other hand… I found it hard, really hard, to get excited about this particular birthday. These last five years have gone way way too fast, and no matter how much I may wish it, I just can’t seem to grab Time in my hands and stretch it out, to make it last longer.
