No, my daughter is not getting married.

This picture was taken during a "photo shoot" with her younger cousins when they visited last summer.

But my heart did twinge when I saw this.

When you're a new mom, older moms (a category in which I now, shockingly, find myself) look at your baby and say two things: 1)"How precious!" and 2)"Just wait...you'll blink, and they'll be all grown up."

You agree with the first, of course. But at the moment, you cannot imagine the second to be true. Because when you are in it--I mean, IN diaper changing and feeding routines and sleep struggles and temper tantrums and the constant battle of trying to figure out something new and bewildering while you are also trying to figure out what to make for dinner--it does not go by in a blink.

At some point, though, you reach a moment where you have some mom mileage on you. You have some years in your maternal rearview mirror. You read articles listing the things older moms miss about their babies, and you realize you have those things to miss.

I'm the mom of two teenagers. I have these things to miss.

But I also--God, hear my prayer--have things to look forward to.

I look back on when they were born...and I look forward to the day they might become parents themselves.

I look back on their first day of school...and I look forward to their first day of college or their first day at a job that isn't just a way to make money.

I look back on the outfits I bought them when they were babies...and I look forward to watching them try on wedding dresses.

I look back on their first dance class...and I look forward to when they might dance at their receptions.

I look back on their first stumbling steps when they were learning to walk...and I look forward to long walks down our road while they tell me about their lives.

I look back on the days they sat in my lap while I read to them...and I look forward to them telling me about books they've read that they think I might like, too.

I look back on playing "Pretty, Pretty Princess"...and I look forward to long, drawn-out rounds of Scrabble over holiday weekends when they come home from wherever else they're spending time at that point.

I look back on singing lullabies to them...and I look forward to the next time one of them says to me, "Mom, I want to play a song for you."

I know today is a gift I need to cherish and savor and soak up. I know the future is promised to no one. I know the dreams I'm dreaming for it might not come true. But in our family, we say that looking forward to something is at least half the fun of it. So I'm going to hold onto the possibility of these dreams unless reality to the contrary steps in.

Look at the past...and be grateful.

Look at today...and be intentional.

Look at the future...and be hopeful.