Just some thoughts on growing up.

When you are small,
many people watch over you.
They watch you grow older and older,
each day - until the day you're
all grown up.

Then the people who've
once watched you
must let you go
so you may learn things on your own.

You may make mistakes along the way,
but you remember
the people who stood by you,
in good and bad times,
and try again.

As the years go by,
you never forget the ones
who held your hand
ready to lend their comfort and support - You turn around
to see them all
with out-stretched hands
ready to fold you
within a blanket of love and comfort once more.

It is then
when you finally realize
how much you have grown
within their reach - not on your own
as the years went by.