Sometimes I get these flashes when I look at my girls.

Their heads turn and catch the light at just the right angle.

Their hair is pulled back in just the right way.

Their facial features arrange themselves into just the right expression.

Their voice says a word with just the right inflection.

Their body dances away in just the right movement.

Flashes.

Flashes and glimpses.

Of what they will look like,

Act like,

Sound like,

Be like.

When they are not just mine to hold.

When my arms will no longer have the job of keeping them warm and safe.

When my eyes will have to watch from afar as they introduce the World to their wonder.

When my heart will be walking around, not just on the outside of my body, but further and further down two different roads that I will have to follow from a distance.

Flashes.

Flashes and glimpses.

Sometimes I get these flashes when I look at my girls.

And while these flashes cause my heart to skip a beat and momentarily force the air from my lungs,