One day a little boy was born into the world and for a very short moment his mother held him close.

But soon they came to clean him up and right then the mother knew. Life with that little boy would always mean letting him go.

.............................................................................................................
Time passed and that little boy became a one-year-old.

His mother knew something had changed because the little boy didn't want to be held anymore--he wanted to walk.

So she kissed him on the top of his head, took a seat at the back of the room, and held her breath and crookedly, very crookedly, he took his first steps

From the place where she watched him, that mother hummed a quiet hum. And in her heart the words went something like this:

Be safe little boy,
Don't you fall little boy,
Look how fast you've grown.

Be safe little boy, where you walk little boy
You're not yet on your own.

~Karen Kingsbury "Be Safe Little Boy”