Eight: The Magic Number

Sophie Grace Hartwell is eight years old today.

Eight: The Magic Number

This morning she came downstairs in her birthday shirt (that she picked out three weeks ago and has been asking about every single day since) and I made her favorite birthday pancakes while she chattered about everything and nothing.

In two hours, our backyard will be full of eight-year-olds in swimsuits, and I’ll be pretending I’m not stressed about pool safety while secretly loving every second of watching her laugh with her friends. But right now, in this quiet moment before the chaos, she’s just my girl eating pancakes and telling me about the dream she had about unicorns.

Eight years ago today, everything changed. She made me a mom, made Marcus a dad, made us a family. Some days parenthood feels impossible and some days it feels like magic. Today feels like magic. She’s eight and she’s perfect and that’s all I need today.