As a parent, watching your child develop is an unending string of firsts. I remember Lara’s first step at our little garden home on Stonegate. I remember her first word which I am pretty sure was “Da-Da’. (Geaux Timbeaux!). Of course looking back now, it could have been “dance”. I remember her first day of kindergarten at Galvez Elementary, her first day of middle school and first day of high school. There was the first dance recital, first swim meet, and first triathlon. And of course I also remember the bad things like her first date and first homecoming dance.
I remember them all. But unfortunately, I seem to be suffering an onslaught of “lasts” that have started to dent my emotional armor. Recently she went to her last homecoming dance. It was bittersweet because she was also selected to be on the homecoming court.
Then she danced as a Gatorette at her last football game at the St. Amant “Pit”. It was also Senior night for the football team, so she was able to walk across the field with her boyfriend, Logan. But everyone was aware that it was there last visit to the Pit.
This past Thursday night, she came home and told me that it was the last time she would practice with the St. Amant Band. This was merely the tip of the iceberg because Friday night was the last time she would dance at a St. Amant football game. We were fortunate again to have some blessing on that night to offset the sadness. Not only did St. Amant win the game in overtime, but Lara was interviewed at halftime as the Cox TV Scholar of the week.
But the weekend was not over yet. On Saturday and Sunday, she swam at her last City Championship meet. In two weeks, we will travel to Sulphur for the state high school championship. And this will more than likely be the last time she swims competitively. As much as I love to watch Lara just dance, I love to watch her compete at anything even more. She is fierce when she is competing and that comes through not only in swimming, but dance and her academics as well.
Soon we will be standing at her last track meet, her last day at school and then her graduation. But I am already looking for the silver lining in the clouds. This will be her FIRST graduation. And with her plans for going to medical school, there will be several more of those. We recently signed her up for a dorm at LSU, so she will have a FIRST day of college. I know she will be moving out, but I have to find something positive wherever I can find it.
For all my friends who are parents, just remember this: for every first, there will be a last. So enjoy them both and everything in between. And no matter how many lasts I have to struggle through, she will always be my first little princess.
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