all the shoes are too small, too tight
some of the pants are too short
and i've been weeding t-shirts out as i do laundry
you know that feeling of folding a shirt for your boy
and it looks so small, feels so small in your hands
but you remember, like it was yesterday,
when that shirt was new
and it looked so big, felt so big in your hands
and now this little shirt is the reason your throat is going all tight and your eyes sting just a little
and it doesn't have anything to do with the silly shirt, really
and everything to do with the boy
who used to be a toddler
and before that a baby
and before that he lived inside you for nine whole months
and now he is this tall, skinny, muscular six and a half year old
and there is no way he'd ever fit anywhere inside you,
except in your heart where he'll always, always be,
even when he grows all the way taller than you
and just doesn't stop . . .
that's gonna happen to me someday . . .
someday pretty soon, i think,
judging by the way the laundry feels when i fold it right now . . .