For the Love of Katie

I know it sounds cliche, but it really does seem like just yesterday that my little Katie was wearing her soft pink sailor dress sitting in her car seat on the kitchen table. My baby girl. My first born. She was born with a shock of dark black hair and I remember the sound of the the nurses drawing in their breath when they saw her for the first time, even before I did. She was beautiful, and still is. My Katie.

I was a young mom by today’s standards. I was married at 21 and held my Katie in my arms at 22. I remember thinking that when she was 18, I would be 40. Now she is 22. You do the math. Life moves so swiftly. As I looked through old photo albums to pluck out a few pictures of her, my head swirled at the thought of it. Time just moves too quickly, and we rarely savor the best moments while they are happening.

Look at those lashes. Even then she had a flare for style. I think we still have those pearls! What I wouldn’t give to feel those pudgy cheeks again!

Yesterday, she graduated from the University of Georgia. Yes, she graduated from college.  I still can’t believe it. I am so proud and so overwhelmed at the same time. I home schooled this child!  I want to savor the moment, to hold onto it forever. Beautiful Katie. She is such a complex and exquisite young woman.

When Katie was about two, I wrote a song for her. I had done some writing before, but never a whole song. I heard the melody in my head as I lay in bed one night. I can’t sing it for you here, but I can write out the lyrics. She hates it when I sing it because it makes her cry. Chris wrote the music and put it into a song that we did record, but sorry, not playing it here.:)  Here are the lyrics:

For the Love of Katie by Chris and Mary Anne Morgan

For the love of Katie, I’d spend a day in the sunshine, strolling with five fingers around my one.

Or maybe we’ll sit splashing, in the pool by the back porch. My curly-headed girl is so much fun.

Tiny fingers reach to touch life as it unfolds to her.

Her little legs take her on her way.

She came to us a helpless babe, someday we’ll let her go.

For the love of Katie, for Katie is my love.

And for the love of Katie, I’ll be sure to step more slowly, waiting for her stride to meet my own.

And I won’t mind repeating, the names of all she brings to me. Daily how I see my Katie’s grown

Tiny fingers reach to touch life as it unfolds to her

Her little legs will take her on her way

She came to us a helpless babe, someday we’ll let her go

For the love of Katie, for Katie is my love.

When I see her dancing, all my cares go to the wind.

And even when she stumbles, I know we’ll laugh and try again…

The days go by, she’ll grow up, and I will let her walk alone.

For little girls they grow up by and by

and for the love of Katie, I will watch her from a distance.

She’ll be my baby girl until I die…

Chorus

Tiny fingers reach to touch life as it unfolds to her.

Her little legs will take her on her way

She came to us a helpless babe, someday we’ll let her go

For the love of Katie, for Katie is my love.

Katie is my love.

Here are a few pics of sweet Katie graduating…