Lately I’ve been marveling at the passage of time. Remembering when I used to eat NERDS candy, spin jelly bracelets over my wrist, smack gum and make mix tapes. Now I listen to jazz, dab cream under my tired eyes and count the wrinkles in my forehead.

It’s strange because in my twenties, I really believed that girl in the mirror would never get old. If I did, it’d be in a Grace Kelly sort of way. My cheekbones would become more pronounced and my eyes shinier and wiser. I remember so many careless nights…dusting my lids with glitter, wearing heels and dancing till the break-a-dawn. And now my version of the twilight boom is Milo’s feet crashing down on the hardwoods at 2 in the morning, a furious stampede to our bedroom hoping it’s time for Curious George and waffles.

He’s also sporting a little red shiner over his eye these days. In an area where there were no lashes or brows at birth. That little red shiner, where he fell and caught the edge on our nightstand. It’s tucked under a hairline that once was receding. For so long, after he was born I swore he had the head of Victor Frankenstein attached to a baby’s body. And then of course there was the pasty vernix bodysuit.

But he cleaned up nicely…

And today, today he is a 2-year old marvel. A jr. Bay Area tech wiz. He’s mastered the remote control, iPad and YouTube app. Every day he defies gravity on his green scooter, smashes garbage trucks into the wall, hugs me and head butts me simultaneously, then studies me with those deep quixotic blue eyes…will she let me watch Toy Story for the 26th time? And then he looks away…what’s my angle?

And then there is this Dutch photographer, a guy who totally gets it all. He had a master plan from the beginning, to catch his daughter’s first days on video, and then every week thereafter until she turned 14. He used the same backdrop every week (her baby blanket). He caught her face changing, all her natural shades of hair, the haircuts, barrettes, glasses, braces, babbling and laughing. Fourteen years in 4 minutes!

Have a look:

Kinda warms your heart and breaks it all at once, right?

M