Upon Awakening

Someone got her first pair of roller skates yesterday, along with her first set of elbow and knee pads. She already had a helmet to wear while riding her tricycle. The skates, made of bright pink plastic, are the sort you strap around your shoes -- with a heel cup for extra stabilization. I drove up to find my beloved child practicing on her new wheeled shoes, her mom ever-present for support and sudden catches, with the widest eyes and biggest smile I may ever have seen. "I'm a big girl, Daddy," she said, sweat pouring from under her pink helmet, when I opened the car door. "You sure are," I said. "This is incredible."

She wanted to skate one more time before bed, in the pitch dark, and something tells me I know what she's going to want to do when she wakes up.