Search, originally uploaded by Shirley Buxton.
Two weeks ago we picked up Chloe in Yuma…tomorrow, again in Yuma, we will return her to her parents, Andrew and Shawnna. It’s been delightful having her, but we actually need a few more days to do everything we want…such as going for lunch by ferry to the California side of the lake.
One last fling today: Our neighbor Melody went to Las Vegas yesterday to pick up her 12-year-old granddaughter…today we’re all going to Keepers of the Wild Nature Park in Valentine, Arizona.
Chloe has developed into a beautiful young lady. She is fourteen–a young fourteen–a changeling, who is at once a child…and then again, a woman.
Shirley Buxton 
3 replies on “Search of the Changeling”
Awesome picture. You are one fantastic photographer. Chloe is a beautiful young lady, growing up so gracefully. This picture is worth submitting somewhere.
Love you Sister Buxton.
Thank you for your sweet comments, Catherine.
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Greg, what a thoughtful and caring response you have written here. It’s all so true–this great mystery of life–from the astonishing birth moment, the adult transition…and then to inevitable death. Beautiful, colored with mystery, and sometimes full of pathos.
I love your last thought concerning the privilege of bringing up children. Children indeed are “an heritage of the Lord.” How blessed we are.
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watching our children change and become young ladies and young men is, I think, one of the most profound and amazing things that one can experience.
The only other thing that comes close is the wonder and awe I felt at the birth of my children. I watch my sons as they develop into articulate, handsome (they take after their father), intelligent, funny young men and I see myself in them and I see things in them that I wish I’d had at their ages…even now at my age!
I am now experienceing the joy and wonder of watching my step daughter going through the ‘changeling’ process…I love that word Shirley – it is so very apt, and am left gasping for breath at times at how mature and yet how young she still is and how she is struggling against the cocoon of childhood wanting to spread her youthful wings.
As a man I ‘get’ the changes my sons experienced, but I’m struggling at times to understand the ‘girl’ things…that, among a whole lot of other things, is what mums are there for I guess!
Thank you for reminding me of how thankful I am to be engaged in the privilege of bringing up children.
Peace and Grace
Greg
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