Catching a Glimpse of the Secret Self

My twenty year old daughter - touching base with home between gap year and University place - had her hair cut short recently,which meant that the back of her neck - and those ears which are shaped just like her father's - were exposed for the first time in many years.

I couldn't help but stare, for suddenly I could see not the grown woman who stood before me, but my baby; there she was, each contour of brow, neck and head revealed in their exactitude so that, just for a moment, I recalled in heart-stopping detail the warmth of her small form held in my arms; her smell and soft fuzz of hair; her yawn, smile, baby-babble of just-forming words.

It was just a moment, of course. I blink and I am back with the young woman before me, in all her poise and beauty. As a mother, I have been privileged to know a just-born secret self of hers. I'm filled with pride... and the inevitable sense of loss.