BUNNY ADVENTURE

*WARNING. The tone of this post is a little bit uneven, but stick with the soppy sadness of this first part. It gets silly.*

The growing up part of childhood has been more pronounced as of late, and I haven't been collapsing into myself (yet) with the realization of the pace of time or that she's becoming more and more of herself every day. I mourn the passing of each little milestone, true, but the tears are all colored with a sort of happiness. I'm glad she's advancing and that she's healthy and she's encountered no more than the normal trials and tribulations of growing up. However, the the passing of time (when I actually take the time to reflect upon it) is painful because it is something that is lost and can never be recovered fully.

Yes, I remember a lot of things, but even science proves that the finest details of a moment are lost forever once it passes. "A done bun can't be undone" as they say, and for me, that loss hurts if I think on it too long.

So I back things up and I look at my kid and try to take in that moment. I don't do it every second or even every day.

But I do, because she is awesome. She is loved by me and so many people and she's lucky. I'm lucky. We are lucky. The world is lucky because she has colored it.

The days of her fervently waving goodbye to me on the bus are gone. The moments of her needing help getting dressed are gone. These are the days when the irreplaceable Bunny is purposefully left behind. "Mama," she said during the chaos of trying to get her out the door. "I'm leaving Bunny home today."

I forgot about it. But then a few minutes ago I walk into the living room and I notice Bunny left on the couch, forgotten and unneeded by my big little girl.

So I go into the room and carefully pick Bunny up and I burst into tears, and I stand there, lost in this moment, sobbing and clutching that well loved stuffed animal and grieve the loss of that time when Bunny was a constant companion, in every way. She dreamed of Bunny, told stories to Bunny, wrote about Bunny, took Bunny every where. When Bunny went missing a couple of times, she was inconsolable. Kind of like me this morning.

Bunny is now on the kitchen table, as I have to go off and adult and I don't want the dogs to tear that stuffie apart.

I don't think anyone is really ready for that.

But you know what I think everyone should be ready for?

BUNNY ADVENTURE!

*record scratch!*

Say what?

That's right. I said it. That's what I get for taking almost 24 hours to write a blog post. It's true: yesterday morning I stood in my house, clutching Bunny Foo Foo and sobbing my eyes out. But then inspiration hit me: BUNNY ADVENTURE.

I had to head down to my lovely mother-in-law's (MILs) house for the day and I thought I'd take Bun with me. So I did.