Happy Birthday Grace
My oldest daughter Grace (or Rapunzel Grace as she likes to be called) turned four recently. Four! I don’t even want to think about how fast the time has flown by or how faster it is going to pass me. But I did take some time to think about how much my life has changed these last four years. While it wasn’t all peachy keen, I would go back and do it again and again and again in a heartbeat and I wouldn’t change too much either. I have learned a lot so far- about myself and the lack of patience I have, about how hard being a parent is, about how fun being a parent is, about regrets, about being blessed, about health and about how much I don’t know.
Grace is an awesome kid, I must admit. I have told you how creative she is (which can also be a little much sometimes). I have written about how inquisitive she is and if you have met her you would know how outgoing and far from shy she is. I sometimes wonder why she is the way she is – mostly when it comes to the outgoing part because if you have met me you might get the feeling that I am a little shy and quiet. I sometimes just sit back and have to watch Grace do her thing whether it’s making up a show for my husband, Leah and I, or watching her print letters or even just enjoying a television show and I am just amazed. One of the biggest lessons I think Grace has taught me, which I am still trying to learn, is to just live in the moment. To just be spontaneous and enjoy the world you have around you, whatever it may be. To just have fun and sing and dance like no one is looking or to put more dazzle into it if someone is watching. I think a lot of us wish to be kids again, to see the world and life in their eyes. Watching my daughter, I often think about my own childhood and wish that I had enjoyed it more, that I didn’t wish to grow up so fast. Having both Grace and Leah makes me want me to improve my life for both myself and as an example for them – the be healthier, to be more optimistic and calm, to be patient and kinder with myself and others and generally to live in the moment.
I often wonder what Grace is going to be like when she is eight, or 12 or 16 and older. Will she still be creative and asking lots of questions? Will she march to her own drum or fall in line behind another drummer? Will she be a girly girl who doesn’t want to get her hair wet or will be the type of girl who does the biggest cannon ball off the dock into the water? Some nights when I go in to check on Grace, a habit I have done since she started sleeping in her own bed, I tuck her back under the covers, kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear “I love you- don’t ever change.” I hope for all the times she doesn’t listen to me, that is the one time she does. Enjoy being Four Grace.
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