When You Know.

If you are a Mother, and you have a daughter. And that daughter used to be little but now she is a grown up, then you will know what I mean.

Do you remember the day when you looked at her and you got a glimpse into her future? I mean, not what would happen to her or the choices she would make. I'm not a Wizard. I mean the way her grown-up self would look. I remember these two times like they were last week.

This one: I remember standing off to the side in the dance studio. We had to have the girls in full makeup for dance pictures. Even when she was 8, she looked stunning in makeup. It worried me then, I mean, look at her! But I knew. I knew she was going to have gorgeous eyes and gorgeous hair and be gorgeous. I'm not going to pretend like I wasn't just a teensy bit happy that I could see that coming.

And this one: No makeup. But when I looked at this picture later, I could see it. I could see her face and her smile morphing into a grown-up face and a grown-up smile. And I swear if you look at her grown-up face and her grown-up smile today, it looks just like this. And it is just this gorgeous.

Dear 1: Thank you very much for being so gorgeous and looking so good in makeup. And for having really pretty hair. Love, Mom