Her father managed to capture

Polaroids of every milestone in her life.

Of her first days of walking

in their brand new house,

one hand interlaced with her mother’s,

the other with her father’s,

guiding her through her first monumental moment.

There was a Polaroid,

of herself in a highchair

covered in rainbow frosting

from her first birthday cake.

Where her mother was so eagerly

trying to reduce the mess,

while her father watched with genuine laughter.

There was a Polaroid,

for her first time in the pool

with her mother’s steady grasp on her

as she almosts collapses from laughter

from the chaos the little girl was inducing.

Meanwhile, her father lounged on the deck,

with little glances here and there.

There was a Polaroid,

in a new house unseen in the previous memories,

of her on her brand new barbie bike

she got on her sixth birthday.

Her mother stood behind

with a look of anxiety,

guiding her without training wheels

with her father watched intensively

from a distance.

There was a Polaroid,

from the moments after her first dance recital,

where her father stood with her clinging to his side,

his firm smirk with a blank face,

as she looked up to him with a wide smile.

While her mother stood aside,

holding a bouquet of flowers

made up of her favorite colors.

There was a Polaroid,

of her walking into her first year of middle school

with a big, blue, polka-dotted backpack

that her father purchased

that weighed her down.

She had two dutch braids

accompanied by a grin from ear to ear

looking at her mother’s hand

as it held her own.

But,

for her entry into high school,

with those long, extensive

nights of studying

with her mother’s homemade hot chocolate

always by her side.

From passing her drivers test,

after she peered into the rearview mirror

at her mother trying to give her little pointers

while her sweaty hands gripped

the leather wrapped steering wheel.

or from her graduation

where she stood in her cap and gown

arms wrapped tightly around her mother

as their faces glistened from the tears in the sun,

from the admiration of her accomplishments.

For when she would move on to her bright future,

there would be no more Polaroids.