Last Childhood Moments

Yesterday was my daughter's last visit to her Pediatric Rhuematologist. We have made that trip to Arkansas every 4 to 6 months for the past two years. Most of the trips have been just her and I. We have to leave here very early to make the four hour drive to the Arkansas Children's Hospital. Yesterday was no exception-we pulled out at 6 am. (Neither of us are morning people!) Now the way this works is she puts on something comfortable, brings a pillow and blanket, piles into the car and goes back to sleep. I spend the four hours praying, pondering, listening to the radio while she sleeps. Hmmm....and then she drives the trip home. Welp...she stayed awake yesterday and worked on wedding music. She played some she had saved so I could hear it, and then she played a Kenny G CD I had to see what she liked off of it. You can't go wrong with Kenny G, and his whole CD made the cut!

We had lots of girl time to talk about just about everything under the sun. We ran through McD's and grabbed breakfast and still arrived quite early for our appointment. We love this hospital, and we love this doctor. The appointment slip has a bar code on it which you scan when entering. It does all the check in for you on a touch screen. It automatically puts your name up on a large digital board with "waiting" by it. The techs call her back to give her an arm band, check her weight, height, update meds...etc...very fast though! We then go to our room to wait.

The rooms are very kid friendly. On the wall are busy beads. There is a clipboard with color sheets and crayons and kid books in a basket. Kat usually picks out a color sheet to color but not today. She waited on the exam table for her doctor to enter. We went through all the normal stuff. Her doctor congratulated her on her upcoming marriage. Then we were done and on our way home.

One of her very last moments as a kid. In just over five weeks, she will no longer qualify for pediatrics which is all she has ever known. She has had the same pediatrician since she was four years old. Her whole world is changing as she makes this transformation from "girl" to "woman." We will no longer be her whole world, we will no longer be providing for her, we will no longer be the ones she runs to when she hurts or falls down or needs to cuddle up in my bed with me and cry. One last moment of her childhood came too quickly and passed by ever quicker.