I was never one of those women who cooed over babies & wanted to nuzzle their heads & smell them & hold them & bounce them…until Kyle. His parents are my cousins, & they live just a few minutes from us, while most of our relatives are much further away. Many years ago, when I arrived at Kyle’s first birthday party, he was curled up in his mom Beth’s arms. She explained that he wasn’t feeling so great, & he surprised us both when he willingly let me hold him. He fell asleep on my shoulder & remained there for the whole party. For the first time, I understood how holding a sleeping baby was one of the best feelings in the world.

I could hardly believe it when this month, I watched him lined up among a river of red robes waiting to receive his middle school diploma. A stylish lad & a long, lean player of volleyball, he’s now taller than both his parents. He’s also the object of much worship by both of my daughters, who always greet him with a high-pitched, two-syllabled squealing of his name. His was their first graduation ceremony, & fittingly enough, two weeks later, he would also attend Zoë’s PlaySchool graduation. How is it that a five-year-old & a fourteen-year-old are both on the cusp of something so new? Can we as parents ever keep up with all these threshold moments?

I know everyone says, “It goes by fast,” but you just don’t realize it until you hug your “little” cousin congratulations, & you leave the parking lot first, because he’ll be going off to a party all on his own…