Just a Pillow

I receive an e-mail everyday from the 4th grade teacher. She lays out the day the students had and previews upcoming events. She does this every single day. It's like a blog. Well, like blogs used to be: when people wrote on them every single day.

It has been over five years since I wrote a blog post. I have written part of a book (or two) and probably 300 short stories since then. Five years ago, the youngest had not started kindergarten and it felt as though it was going to take forever to get her there. Now, she is tall, wears glasses and cool boots, talks about Undertale and wants to become a veterinarian.

In the class e-mail today, Mrs. C informed the parents the children have earned a treat due to their  exemplary fourth-gradeiness. They want to be allowed to bring a stuffed animal and a pillow to school for reading time. My girl set hers aside this morning before school in anticipation of taking it tomorrow. My tall, strong, big-mouthed, independent girl wants to take her tiger and pillow to school.

It has taken a million forevers to get to this blink in time, where she is frozen in my mind as still my little girl, snuggling down on her pillow and reading with her tiger beside her. It is just a pillow, but she is not just any little girl.

**Edit**She was almost late for the bus today as she could not stuff the pillow she wanted to take into her bag. She asked if she could take on e of the smaller ones from the couch and my initial response was, "We don't have time." Luckily, I paused and remembered my vow from many years ago that I would always say "yes" when she asked to ride in the spaceship grocery cart because every kid should be able to ride in the spaceship. So, I picked a pillow and stuffed it in the bag for her and we made the bus stop with seconds to spare.