I Heard It

Today I heard a phrase that floats around among others in my daydreams about Addie's life, about my squishy, ever-changing hopes for her future. It never made it to my daydreams about Cate's life because it was just an assumption for her - not so much the milestone I see it as for Addie. I heard it for Cate at some point, but barely registered it as more than the 3 word utterance it is.

Today Addie and I walked past the parked and waiting cars along the block of her school. I park a bit farther away so that she can get used to walking a bit, paying attention to the crossing guard's directions, and practice navigating with her backpack on.

As we approached the halfway mark, a car door slammed behind us. Addie usually stops and looks in the direction of each sound we hear, including cars passing, so you can imagine this walk takes a while. But instead of her noticing the slam, I was attuned to it for some reason. My ears were perked in that direction just in time.

"Addie! Addie!"

A frantic and excited voice emitted from the direction of the slam. Neither Addie nor I had time to turn around before the daydream phrase rang loud and clear above the accompanying sound of friendly running feet and a backpack bouncing up and down in rhythm with each step closer.

"Addie, wait up!"