SHORT

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--SHORT

Five minutes to free-write about it

-------------------------------------------------

At first I was going to skip this week's challenge, but then an old photo popped up in my Facebook memories of a granddaughter whose birthday is today. She looks so tiny in that shot. Definitely much shorter than I am.

That got me to reminiscing about other brief moments in time when I was not the short one, and to looking through old (and some not so old) photos.

These are of my two children--then and now...

...and my oldest granddaughter.

When my local great-grandchildren started to catch up to me, we started a tradition where whenever we got together at my daughter's home (their grandmother) we would stand side by side in front of a little mirror in her entrance way to see how much taller they had grown since my last visit, a ritual that was repeated each time until with great fanfare they were able to announce to one and all that they had passed me by and I was now the shorter one.

This is a picture of me and one of my great-granddaughters, standing in front of the little mirror that has witnessed the transformation from shorter to taller and taller to shorter so many times over the last several years. 

And this is one of my favorite comparison photos--then and now--of my two oldest great-grandsons.

This short reflection really brought home how brief the time is that we have to enjoy our children, be an influence in their lives, and create happy memories together they can carry with them when they fly the coop and are out on their own.