My daughter Anna and I mark many landmarks along the route to preschool in the mornings.

Julie and I take turns playing preschool bus driver. More often than not, I take her in the mornings and Julie picks Anna up at lunch.

Anna likes the routine of knowing what’s coming next along the route.

“Look, there’s the hospital.”

“Dunleith is coming up.”

“We’re almost to St. Mary Church.”

Last week, we apparently passed an unforeseen landmark — a sign of just how fast Anna is growing up.

“Daddy, roll the window down, and turn the music up loud,” she requested from her car seat perch in the backseat.

Suddenly, the simple request sent a momentary fear into my brain.

Was my not-quite-3-year-old going on 13 already?

“I’m not ready for a teenager,” I thought as I rolled the back window down slightly.

Of course, then again, I wasn’t ready for a newborn, or a toddler or a 2 year old either.

Somehow God seems to have a way for helping guide me even when I’m quite ill prepared for what he’s throwing my way.

With a cool nip in the air, we breezed down Homochitto Street with windows down and “Skip to My Lou” (Anna’s current favorite song) blaring, at least to a 3-year-old’s ears. Loud to me is far greater.

Today, Anna officially turns 3.

We had a family birthday party Saturday at the house, and Anna had a ball.

Julie and I stand amazed at how quickly Anna’s young life has seemingly breezed by.

At times she can seem quite adult like — the request to get some fresh air and some familiar tunes — and other times her childlike naivety can almost bring tears to my eyes.

Her big birthday present was a good example of that. She’s loved swinging since she was very little, and she’s just about outgrown the small baby swing she’s had for years.

So Julie and I decided a backyard swing set would be a good gift for Anna.

As we shopped for options, we wound up at Town & Country Farm & Hardware.

The nice young man who was helping us one Friday at lunch tried to warn us.

“We don’t really have swing sets, we have do-it-yourself kits,” he said.

In my work clothes, I’m fairly certain that I’d be the last person someone would think had the ability to use a circular saw and a carpenter’s square.

Over the next couple of weekends — and seemingly to the amazement of the Town & Country folks who checked in on my progress as I replenished supplies of deck screws and picked up accessories — the wood playground began to take shape.

The curious nature of Anna saw my work and wanted to know what I was doing.

“What is it, Daddy?” she asked.

“It’s a project,” I told her.

That satisfied her for a while.

The next weekend she asked again.

“Is it a house?”

“Sort of, baby. What do you think it is?”

“I think it’s a house for Suzy and Alice (our two dogs),” she said.

“You may be right, baby,” I told her.

We didn’t hang all of the swings and mount the slides and such until late Friday afternoon. We successfully kept her out of the backyard until Saturday morning when the grand unveiling was made.

Her reaction was priceless.

“Yay, yay, yay, yay,” she squealed as she ran to the ladder to climb up to her favorite part — a steering wheel.

I can only imagine how fast the years may fly by, as the steering wheel she’s clutching becomes a real one, as she’s driving away from me.

Happy birthday, Anna; and Happy Valentine’s Day, Julie.

I love you both deeply.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.