Today, she is a teenage girl. She wakes to the sounds of a house full of life and the smell of fresh coffee. Everyone is home. Her father watches the television while her mother bakes fresh brownies. She groans at the sound of her pestering alarm and stares up at the ceiling. She is warm, cocooned in her sheets as if she were a caterpillar, not quite ready to leave just yet. It is in moments like this that she reflects upon the future. One day, she realizes, she will wake up alone. The house will be still as never before, and the silence will be deafening. One day, there will be no more laughter echoing through the empty halls, nor will there be any more pestering comments from her siblings. There will be fewer family dinners and movie nights. Fewer long car rides and conversations. Fewer opportunities with less of the world laid out in front of her. She will grow up, and with it, she will lose this piece of her, this aching familiarity. Tomorrow, she will grow up, and all that will be left of her childhood are memories. Moments that she will never relive, reflections of her shattered past, held in her heart and forever scattered across her path.
– Meghan
This is such a great personal writing piece. It brings to mind how we may feel like our childhood has already gone by, but in moments like the one here, we realize that we may look back on these moments as well. I like how you put it as “less of the world laid out in front of her” as time goes on, and I love the last line. Great job!