instagram of the day: growing up

yesterday i was doing a little reading on another blog i follow.  the post i read focused on their little girl's ninth birthday and the party she had.  nine looked so big.  so grown up.  so un-far away and so not tiny enough to look this cute in a giant shower cap and an oversized tub.  

i have to be really careful what i read online.  more often than not it's harmless, but every once and a while, i'll read something really and truly awful.  a headline or story so disturbing it affects me for weeks and sometimes, years.   

i was a broadcasting major in college until a professor told me i only needed to get one thing right:  practice hearing the worst thing imaginable then set aside all judgement, opinion and emotion to report only on the facts.  i peaced out of the major the next day.  that type of thing just isn't possible for me.  that switch doesn't exist. 

yesterday, while doing some research online, i accidentally read something unimaginable and my heart was utterly destroyed.  i thought about it the rest of the afternoon, while driving home, cooking dinner and getting into bed.  even today, it's still there. 

last night  i pulled my little water baby out of the tub and squeezed her extra tight.  the world is a shitty place sometimes.  if only we could protect them from everything and keep them in giant shower caps and bubble baths forever.