She is Tall Now

She's tall now standing there with the refrigerator door flung open staring into a world of decisions.

The school day wears lightly on her face; her eyes dart between the shelves and the door like fireflies

She is tall now. Her mother competes in a fruitless battle. I notice. She doesn't have to stand on her toes; she doesn't have to step into the refrigerator like her sisters.

She weighs all of her choices.

She's tall now and indecision furrows her brow while she chews on her reddened bottom lip.

In a moment, she shifts the weight of her choices on her hips and plucks an apple from the drawer and leaves.

Her choice made.

I consider this moment in the continuum of her life - my life. She is tall now. The choices are hers now. I fear the seduction of the artificial and the shallow will sugar over her innocence, but I remember the apple and all of its symbolism and think . . . she chose the apple . . . and her life will be rich.