I looked across the room, and what did I see?

I was at my doctor’s office for my weekly allergy shot. In front of me, in line to check out, was a mother and her little girl. The woman sitting behind the desk was chatting up the mother, but I have no idea what they were talking about. Normally this would not be terribly interesting, and it still isn’t, but I am going somewhere with this. My spider sense tingled when I heard one of the women say, “she’s starting kindergarten next year.” Presumably it was the mother who said this, but I’m only assuming this based on the clues presented by the setting, not based on who I was paying attention to (no one) or where I was looking (at my shoes). And yes, I did recently watch Spiderman on HBO.

I looked down at the child scurrying below my kneecaps. The first thing I thought was, “Beth is finishing kindergarten.” The next thing I thought was, “my shoe laces are coming loose.” It wasn’t until I drove off, lived through another evening and night at home, and woke up the next morning that I thought of that encounter at the doctor’s office again. I was waking up Beth when it occurred to me that Beth was considerably bigger than that little girl. Now I know that kids come in different sizes, but I wondered if Beth had grown that much since last year. As much as I hate to sound like a cliche, she IS growing fast.