This was the weekend full of spinning and dropping and silliness. For Alexis, that is. It was my weekend for bench-warming and watching from afar.
We visited Cleveland with friends just so we could do the indoor amusement park thing.
Alexis took the mission VERY seriously.
She's tall enough now for nearly every ride. She's also at the just right age to treat rides with reckless abandon. Fearless and unquestioning, she jumped on everything. Twice. No thoughts about safety or maintenance or WHAT IF THE CHAIN BREAKS. She just rides.
That. THAT was the moment when I realized it. When Alexis was high above me, spinning in a circle on a giant swing, she let go of the chains and put her hands straight up in the air. THAT was the moment when I realized how very differently everything looks from the sidelines.
There is no denying that she's a big kid now.
There is no denying that she knows how to have fun.
There is no denying that she has entered the fearless phase.
Someday she is going to be sitting on a bench watching her own kid throw his or her hands up in the air while flying through the sky and her breath is going to catch. When she calls to tell me about it, I'm going to remember. Vividly.
The view is very different from here.