Indiana recently turned seven years old.
How can that be? Just yesterday, Indy was only two or three, and I was carrying her around everywhere. In what seems like a blink, she's gone from scooting to walking, from babbling to talking, and from a toddler to a little girl with a big heart.
A friend recently sent me a link to this video I made in 2017 of Indy learning to walk. I hadn't seen it in a while and I just cried and cried watching it. Remembering how big a step that first one was.
And that reminded me of another step Indy took by herself last spring. Her first time to walk to school, without her Papa.
Again, my tears fell as I watched it. Just like they did the morning I filmed it. Not sad tears, but sweet, precious, happy ones. She's walked to school by herself about a hundred times since then, and each time it gets a little easier, to let her go.
Seeing Indy grow and change, I can't help but think of her big sisters Heidi and Hopie, and how quickly they seemed to go from growing to grown. And how rapidly life passes by, even when you're trying not to miss it.
I went through some old photos I had and pulled one from each of Indy's first six birthdays and put them together into one picture, to remember those special days and how much she and our world has changed between each of them.
This year, since we were snowed in here at the farm, and we really couldn't get to the store, I decided to make a homemade cake for Indy's birthday. I found Joey's old 'chocolate daffy cake' recipe in her little white recipe box, and also one for a fudge frosting. I got out all the ingredients and 30 or 40 minutes later, the cake was cooling and I was decorating for our little get-together.
The party went well. Indy got the fun swing she had been hoping for and Aunt Marcy and Aunt Candy came from the houses next door and joined us for dinner and birthday cake. Everything was perfect, until I started putting the candles into Indy's cake. Her big number "7" just fell over and I couldn't get it to stay up. Turns out, the edges were cooked, but the middle was still just a big goopy bunch of uncooked cake batter...
Oh well, Indy loved it... and that's all the mattered.
Another big day in another big year in Indiana's life has come and gone. And I'm so proud of her and who she's becoming. And so thankful for the people around her, and me, who help to bring so much joy and love to our lives.
