I don't Remember Blinking...

Last night my daughter graduated from the 8th grade.
It seems like just a week ago I was sitting with her in Miss proctor's Kindergarten class on her first day of real school. She had her little tan uniform on and a stuffed dog named "Perkins". I gave her a disposable camera and told her to take pictures of her first day. Somewhere in a box in my storage shed those pictures reside.
It was just a few days ago she made her first (and only) piano recital. Just yesterday I was walking beside her while she rode her pony "Willy".
Not many Christmases ago she wanted an electric Barbie Jeep to ride around our front yard. Now we're talking about what car she'll be getting in two years. Only a few days ago she was in a car seat, drinking from a tippy cup, eating cheese puffs from a zip-lock Baggie as we drove home to the beach. Now she sits next to me with her iPod firmly entrenched while I listen to talk radio or Zig Ziglar.
I can still hear the echo and reverberation of "The Wheels on the Bus..." and "I Wish I had A Little Bitty Box, to Put my Daddy in..." But nowadays they're drowned out by her amazing voice singing The Beatles, or The Gorillaz. She used to ride on my shoulders, now she's taller than them.
We've been through a lot together and much of the time she was more "Little buddy" than daughter. She's been my sole focus these past 12 1/2 years that I've been single and I'm glad. I wouldn't have missed any of these first 14 years. Not for love nor money. Morgan is the single best thing I've ever been a part of. Every day is a treasure. The only problem is these first 14 years have come and gone in the blink of an eye.
...But I don't remember blinking