Yesterday...

Yesterday this little budgekin who asked for a "Bitty Baby Crib" every day for almost a year...

Got this in the mail...

And now she expects me to allow her to leave...

Tonight I am profoundly sad at the end of her childhood... 

Although I think her "childhood" actually ended sometime in the past five years...

Maybe as a smiley faced freshman... 

All awkward and beautiful at the same time...

Choosing different sports then the ones she did as a child...

Taking "selfies" with friends...

In the simmering Tennessee heat...

Or maybe it ended as a silly sophomore...

Having moved to Maine but taking to the new landscape like a fish to water...

Making friends like she'd always lived here...

(Nothing says "sophomore year" like silly bathroom selfies!) 

Look at those fresh faces... Crazy thing is one is married, two engaged, one in California, one in Florida... Who said that could happen?

They are babies...

As a junior she was defiantly on the precipice of adulthood...

Making choices...

But still silly...

I miss the days these kids were all around...

Some of them had the nerve to do this before her... In fact most of her close friends graduated when she was a junior...

But she still had a few friends in her grade and senior year...

and Groundhog day to look forward to...

(Yes, a groundhog wanders up and down Main St giving out lolly pops on his day... Don't ya wish you lived in a small Maine coastal town??)

Back to Allie... She turned 18... 

(Without my permission I might add.) 

Had much hated senior pictures taken...

Yes, she still can't look at them without getting mad... 

(Neither of my girls liked their Senior pictures... Is this a girl trait or just my girls?)

Then, without warning this happened...

Yes, I was there, but I am still surprised they let a five year old graduate...

Oh... And there was this girl...

There have been many BFFs over the years but only one Carrie...

They have had their ups and downs but love each other in that unique way true "besties" do...

If (and I do mean if) her childhood is over I'd say she was around to see it!

She is headed off to an in state college this fall... Home on weekends... Sounds like bliss right now! 

We were pretty lucky... We got a "gap" year...

An extra year to see this beautiful face everyday...

A year for this amazing person to join our family...

(And help us make more silly faced pictures!) 

An extra year to hang with her sissy...

(and go back to the hair color she had in that first picture!) 

We traveled some and laughed a lot...

 Laughing is something you can't help around Allie... She is one of the most humorous people I know!

Another year to sing with the worship team and teach Sunday School...

(She will be so missed they took up a special offering Sunday to send her off with... We were totally blown away by this!!) 

Another year to make everyday memories...

But tonight as I am 48 hours away from leaving to take her to college... Then leaving her there... I am feeling like 19 years just wasn't enough...

I mean look how little she still is...

Thanks for listening,