Changes

We have lived in this house
for so long that sometimes
when I wake up in the morning,
I half expect
one child or another
to peek around the corner.

But they are all grown up now
with their own lives,
their own homes,
their own children.

When they were little,
it hurt my heart
to think about them
all grown up.
I just couldn’t imagine
how that would be.

But I went to sleep
and woke up
and went to sleep
and woke up
and we went through
the thousand phases
of childhood together
and now here we are
in just the place
we were always headed.

I will continue
to go to sleep
and wake up
and go to sleep
and wake up
and slowly,
changes will happen
and I will adapt
and suddenly,
today will be
a long, long time ago.

Then one day,
I will go to sleep
and I won’t wake up.

My time will be over.

But my children
and their children
and their children
will go to sleep
and wake up
and go to sleep
and wake up
and they will adapt
to changes
that cannot be slowed
or stopped
and I will be someone
they remember
from a long, long time ago.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith