Becoming

There was a Longreads essay that I saved to read when I had time because I knew I was going to love it when I reached these lines:

I enjoy the soft anticipation of what she might create next and how she will create differently, year to year, as she grows. What and who will influence her next? Who will she leave behind, pick up, come back to? Who and what will stay with her the rest of her life?

She’s talking about watching her daughter grow up, but it fits with anyone you age with. Isn’t that the nicest part of any relationship? The anticipation of what the other person will do that you will get to witness. To see who or what influences them? What they try out and reject. Or return to.

It’s interesting, certainly, to do this exercise with yourself, but those changes don’t feel the same as observing them in someone else you love. A friend, a partner, a child, a sibling. Someone you love watching become themselves again and again and again.

I’m glad I saved it. It’s a really lovely piece of writing.