It’s a strange thing, watching your kids grow up. I’m not even sure we watch their growth, it seems that we wake up one day and all of a sudden they’re big. When you’re in the thick of the craziness – the diapers, feeding around the clock, sleepless nights, cleaning up spilled juice or the cheerios they dumped on the ground for the 10th time that day, battling bedtime, giving up other battles (I guess wearing two different shoes to school is not the worst thing possible), running them to ballet, soccer, gymnastics, playdates, packing lunches, forgetting to pack lunches, forgetting a whole list of things that we spend a week making up to our kids – we don’t always realize the passage of time. We take things one day at a time but often the kid years are lumped together.

We remember like yesterday their first steps and can still feel that pride watching them take this first step of independence, and how their chubby hands clapped with glee as they wobbled across the floor. The next morning it seems that all of a sudden that baby is gone, and in her place there’s a teenager.

I feel this strange mix of pride, awe, and ‘holy crap where does the time go’ when I look at my own kids. My oldest was just born, and somehow she’s 10. And I saw this same mix on Orli’s parents faces. Maybe that’s why I had to wipe away the tears while watching Orli on her special day.

The tears her dad shed while watching Orli speak at her bat mitzvah got to me big time. Just seeing her up on the bimah was enough for him, seeing his little girl in a big kid dress, speaking so beautifully and eloquently. Maybe it was at that moment her parents saw her for the first time as a young adult, the pride on their faces was overwhelming.

Orli is an amazing girl. She’s kind and thoughtful and if there was ever a kid who will change the world, it’s Orli. I asked her if there were any specific friends she wanted me to take pictures of, who her best friends were so I could make sure to capture her with them. “All my friends are my best friends,” she said. “No one is more important than anyone else, I’m really lucky.” Yes from a 12 year old.

Orli’s parents have instilled in her the importance of helping others. Many kids do a ‘mitzvah project’ before their bat mitzvah, a way to give back to others on their special day. Orli and her parents chose Soaringwords as their project and party guests had the opportunity to decorate and write inspirational messages on special pillows and quilts which will be donated to sick children in a hospital in Israel.

She’s also super talented. Orli loves to sew and loves fashion – luckilly her initials are close enough to the Chanel logo to have a super cute bat mitzvah logo on her giveaway items. She not only plays guitar but wrote a song dedicated to her parents and performed it at her party. Something along the lines of ‘thank you mom and dad, I’m on my own now.’ Right, as if I wasn’t crying enough.

Orli has embraced this new chapter in her life and will make a very big impact on our world. If any of my kids are half as amazing as Orli when they’re her age I will be thrilled. Mom and dad, you’re doing an awesome job. Orli I’m inspired and amazed by you, I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for you.

Now that I’ve talked your ear off (not sure what got into me with this post), I give you Orli’s bat mitzvah…