from being five pounds, with chinky brown eyes beset my brows, and being the size that one could hold in their palm, 

the constant boohooing, throwing up, setting my teeth in your flesh, or merely kicking and screaming...

the effort you exerted to make me happy, by merely holding me, or allowing me to ride on your shoulders in our small basement..around and around... as I had a tiara placed on my curly hair, and best on my back- fairy wings.    

from taking me to dance class as we rushed around to find my leotard, and dance shoes that were outrageously overpriced, 

and how we would, every saturday, no matter what we were doing, make it a point to have daddy-daughter trysts. 

or the a million times we visited “the place where dreams come true”, even though mom hates waiting in long lines, and despises the heat,  

all...just to see my face when I looked into the eyes of a mermaid with red hair that I had saw on television every night and that I adored and long to meet. 

 

oh, how much I’ve grown. 

 

from telling pointless drama about the boy I like to mom, as I watch dad roll his eyes, but always knowing that he cares to listen.. although he hates to see the fact this his first born little girl is growing up so fast, 

or lending an ear to how I thought I would fail an upcoming test to jumping around and yelling in joy that I passed. 

how about, screaming out to mom asking her how this outfit, or that outfit looks...asking her a million times to receive the same answer I already know, 

then waking outside my threshold to dad as he looks at me, and as I anticipate for him to say, “Sierra, you know this isn’t a fashion show.”

 

oh, how much I’ve grown, and how much I’ve changed. but my mother and father’s love always remains the same. 

the love they display when they’re happy or sad, proud or disappointed in me,

 they never give up on me. 

the stupid things I’ve done, and the love they render to me so effortlessly to constantly remind me that they’re there.

so whether I’m a small girl with wild curly hair that goes in every which way, or a 5’2 teenager that has hair that is perfectly tamed, 

no matter what.... under that all I am blessed enough to say that I have parents whose love never fails me, and remains the same.