Recognizing when you're living in your best years

My youngest and I have been on our own since she was 8 months old. She's now 11. She has two older siblings and 4 nieces and nephews. She went to spend last summer with her sister and family and asked to stay through the next summer. That was July 16th 2023. Hardest decision I've made yet. But I couldn't find a reason to say no that wasn't selfish or self serving. She needed this time. Her mother hasn't been in her life and her 27 year old sister is the "mother figure" she clung to.

She will be home in a few weeks.

It's the moments like these I miss the most. Watching them in real-time discover themselves.

Anyway, y'all just take every fucking chance you get to sit still in moments like these. Enjoy them.