Has anyone had that ideal age that they can't wait to reach? For Lyra it's eight. She even had me type it out on the keyboard tonight: "Lyra is excited to be 8 years old." Yeah, well, me too, Lyra. I'm sure you'll be just as cool when you're eight.
I used to be a pretty devout Catholic, and as such (or perhaps, not as such), I used to believe that God would do me favors. If I prayed really hard, why wouldn't he grant me a simple wish? Not being satisfied with the limited life of a kid, I would ask, very nicely, to be shown images of the future: to dream of my life when I'm 27. Because that was the perfect age.
He never followed through.
But one thing he did, if he did anything at all, was allow me to create 27. To become 27. To still be alive, to have this rich and wondrous life. Or maybe I did dream of it, of sitting on the bed typing away, next to my husband, next to my dog sucking too fervently on his blanket, my child asleep in the other room: maybe I saw all this, and didn't recognize it as my own.
And that's fine. I suppose God deserves the benefit of the doubt.
