This is the moment, right here, in this picture, that I knew you. I saw it all. Everything you were from that moment to now, I saw play out before me. The light breeze in your hair, the sun behind you, the smile, the earnestness, the warmth, the hope, the beauty and the mischievousness. From a short distance, the far off glance, the challenge ahead, crouching in preparation for great effort, the joy of being resolute, of having made a decision to go forward: as if you were saying, “Look at me, I’m here for now, but I’m getting ready, I’m about to go where I’ve never gone before and I’m ready for it, are you?”

I wasn’t ready for it. I’m still not ready for it. I knew then looking at you everything I know about you now. The same but having moved forward, having moved beyond. Being everything that this picture promised and everything that you were looking at. Everything that was more, that you were already ready for, have always been ready for, will always be ready for. From this picture I knew you and all that you are capable of. I see you today, and every day, as the realization of this picture, a fulfillment of the gleam of that little girl’s eye: afraid but determined, ready even if not quite prepared, open to whatever comes next.

I’ll never be ready for it, but I saw it coming. O what a beautiful sight you continue to be.