Advice for My Daughter

Tag: motherhood

  • I Didn’t Know It Was the Last Time

    I Didn’t Know It Was the Last Time

    As our kids grow up, we often keep notebooks to log their firsts:

    • First Smile
    • First Laugh
    • First time rolling over
    • First tooth
    • First food
    • First word
    • First steps

    We share the firsts with our family, post them on Facebook and track them in baby books.

    But we never track the lasts. They slip by us unnoticed and we don’t realize their significance until much later.

    I didn’t know it was the last time I would rock you in the rocking chair.

    I didn’t know it was the last time I would carry you.

    I didn’t know it was the last time I would give you a bath.

    These milestones just snuck past me. Your childhood slipped away with a whisper. There was no announcement, no record keeping and no party.

    I didn’t know. How could I?

    How could I know that it was the last time I would read you a bedtime story?

    How could I know that it was the last time you would crawl?

    How could I know that it was the last time that you would hold my hand in the parking lot?

    I couldn’t. And now all I have are memories.

    The firsts are filled with joy, while the lasts are filled with longing because I didn’t know it was the last time.

    I didn’t know.

  • A Love Letter to My Daughter

    A Love Letter to My Daughter

    My Remarkable Girl,

    It’s taken me years to write you this letter. It’s long overdue. Many times I’ve tried to put my feelings into words, and many times I’ve failed.

    In the simplest of terms, I love you, but there is nothing simple about my feelings. I apologize in advance for the flimsiness of my words. As hard as I try, my words always fail me.

    Imagine for a moment a wish that you hold close to your heart. Now imagine wishing for it for years. You wonder if you are being heard. Every coin that gets dropped in a fountain is wrapped in that wish. Every candle that is blown out feels the wind from that wish. Every star…every night…feels the echo of that wish. Every night, every bended knee, has carried that wish in a prayer.

    Now imagine that wish coming true.

    Can you feel it?

    Now take that feeling and multiply by the number of stars in the sky. Then multiply that by the number of blades of grass in central park. Then multiply that by every grain of sand in the Sahara Desert.

    Does your heart ache yet? Because mine does…every day.

    As I look back on your life so far, there are so many moments when I’m certain that I felt my heart leap out of my body:

    • The first time I held you
    • Your first night home when I watched you sleep
    • The first time you were sick
    • The first time you smiled
    • The first time you said mommy

    And those are just the “big” moments. Every mother expects to be in awe when the big firsts happen, but it’s the everyday moments that make my breath catch and I whisper a simple “thank you” because it’s all I have to offer.

    • When you reach for my hand in the parking lot
    • When your legs are tucked up under you as the moon shines across your sleeping eyes
    • When you get upset and write me a note that says “I’m sorry”
    • When you run across the room to greet me with a giant hug
    • When you invite me to have lunch with you at school

    You are my answered prayer…the prayer that I thought was never heard.

    You are my inspiration, my joy, my wonder, my dance partner, my sidekick, my adventurer, my scientist, my teacher, my guru, my alarm clock, my movie buddy, my cheerleader, my artist, my inventor, my comfort, my caffeine, my confidant, my goofball, my coach, and my heart.

    You. Are my child.

    And I love you.

    Love,

    Mom

     

    Like this? Click here to purchase one to hang in your home.