Having a Daughter is Like Watching My Wife Grow Up

A couple of months ago I was going through some photos when I saw one of my daughter laughing that was particularly adorable.

Looking closer, the picture seemed dated. Everything about it, from the quality of the photo to the clothes she wore, appeared old. I wondered why my phone camera was so bad that day.

Then it hit me.

I wasn’t looking at my daughter. The photo was of my wife when she was our daughter’s age.

Seeing my little girl grow up is like watching my wife grow up.

My in-laws used to get out the old tape recorder and watch family videos on Sunday nights. It was fun to see my siblings-in-law interacting together and especially to get an idea of what my wife was like at that age.

I now realize that the voice, appearance, and personality of my wife in those videos are just about the same as our adorable little 5-year-old now.

A while back we watched as our daughter came down the stairs in the morning with one of her stuffed animals behind her back and exclaimed:

“Today’s animaaaaaal is… Snowy [the owl]!”

She’s done this almost every day since and it’s the perfect example of how much of a joy she and my wife…