Chutes and Ladders

This image strikes fear into the heart of every mother of twin toddlers (or at least, me):

It’s only a slide, you say.

Little do you know!  It’s only a slide with very steep stairs.  It’s only a slide that’s high enough to guarantee major bone breakage if a fall were to occur.  It’s only a slide with a long drop-off at the end of the chute where little legs can’t nearly touch the ground.  And it’s only a slide with a large enough distance between the stairs and the end of the slide so that I can’t be in both places at one time.  While one daughter is precariously climbing the stairs and the other is preparing to launch herself down the chute, I can merely watch from below, helpless. 

Helpless! 

I guess that’s a feeling I’m going to have to get used to in the days and years to come.

Because the girls love their independence.   

And they LOVE this slide.

My motherly heart may quiver every time they climb those steps into the great unknown, but I find great comfort in knowing that they’ll be traveling the chutes and ladders of life with each other.