sooner than later (happy birthday, darling boy)

Since I am about to become a mom, I guess it is only fair that I read a story about the first birthday of a child (at least I assume this is what this will be about from the summary and title! And the beautiful and calm cover!)

I really like how you structure the story. I like how you describe the perception of time and how it feels. I agree with your assessment. Word choices are really immersive too :3

“I held you in my arms, and we met for the very first time.” That is such a good sentiment! It describes how I feel at the moment too! The excitement at the first meeting. I like the musing on how time must have moved for the son as compared to your year as the parent!

“This year, you began to learn who you are; we began to learn who you are.” Love this line!

I really like the throughline of “sooner than later”, over all a very very poignant piece…. And I feel strangely at ease after reading it. Thank you for sharing!

i love love love love love this, thank you for sharing such a beautiful sentiment

I am always so in awe of your writing

Hello and good evening,
It has been a while since I’ve reviewed work so bear with me, and remember, you are free to take and leave what you may. My goal is to give you all the constructive suggestions as I can.

When my hands were small, when the top of my head didn't quite clear the kitchen counter, and when Mom and Dad still jumped on the trampoline outside with me, the grown ups grownups should be written as one word. told me that time flies by: that sooner than later, I will be another inch taller, another shoe size bigger, and another year older, until suddenly, I'm all grown up too.

But, I haven't found that to be quite true. It may be just a personal choice, and I honestly have no room to talk cause I do it too, but I don’t think starting this paragraph with the word ‘but’ is working. It makes it a little disjointed and feels like you cut the sentence from the previous paragraph a little too soon. Back when my favorite color was pink and the hardest thing to do was wait for school to end and summer to begin, time moved agonizingly slow. Still, childhood, when my siblings and I still lived in the same home, slept in the same rooms, ate breakfast asat the same table, it seems like an awfully long time ago, even ifthough I can still recall my memories as if they happened yesterday.

Rather than time flying by, now I believe that with each year you earn, time begins to move much faster. This sentence is kind of contradictory. At the beginning you talk about time flying by which would imply its moving fast, but then at the end you say that you now consider it to be moving fast. I’m gonna assume you meant to say that time moved slow as you did previously, just wanted to point it out in case. Time moved slow when I was a kid, because I was a kid, I feel like it would have moved slow for more then just being a kid. That’s like saying the sky is green because I’m colorblind. Doesn’t make it true. Maybe in your perspective it does, but I don’t think time moved slow just because you were a kid. I would scratch that and leave the rest of this sentence. Have it say ‘time moved slow when I was a kid, because the years I’d earned were still so few...’ and the years I'd earned were still so few in comparison.

A year has passed now since I prepared your room, painted stripes on the wall,and hung the goose mobile over your crib. A year has passed since my womb was emptied of you, . Since I held was able to hold you in my arms, and we met youfor the very first time.

For you, this year must have been slow. The months must have been grueling, and frustrating as you learned the shape of your hands, how to sit up, and how to get from one place to another. This year, your first, from which you have no others to compare to, even if it is but a fraction of our lives, makes up the entirety of yours so far.

This year, you began to learn who you are; we began to learn who you are.

For me, this year went by quickly. For the first time, I felt time as it passespassed, faster now, watching. I got to watch you grow, becoming nearly unrecognizable from thethat small, fragile, pink thing you were in the beginning. I have realized, sooner than later, that another year will slip through my fingers somehow, no matter how tightly I clench my fist.

Sooner than later, you will be walking, running, and talking, and The things you used to love, like afternoon naps in my arms, will no longer be of any interest to you. You will grow too heavy for me to carry and, sooner ratherthan later, you will stand taller than I.

Even still, as things change, as you grow and change, my grievances cannot outweigh the number of things I have to look forward to:again, I would start a new sentence here. things that we would not be able to do together had we stayed the same forever.

this amount of love pouring out from this piece is breathtaking. this is such a lovely read <3