I Hope You Dance

From the day your child is born they are slowly moving away from you.  You may not think about it for a while.  It may dawn on you when they start to crawl or when they take their first steps. 

We encourage them to be independent and cheer every achievement they make in their development.  There are zillions of these along their path of growing up.  Every day brings something new and we proudly watch and then all of a sudden they are grown walking out the door and you wonder how in the world it all happened so fast.

When Molly was young maybe in her early teens she told us she wanted to move to California. I'm not sure where that came from.   I said "Well if you move to California who is going to take care of me and daddy when we get old".  She replied "I'll send you a plane ticket."  We laughed.

Fast forward 10+  years later.

She sent us each emails telling us she wanted to move to San Diego and wanted our support on this decision.  It was probably better this way because she could detail the reasons she had decided to make this change in her career and not have to see the pitiful looks on our faces.  It gave us time to catch our breath and think things through.  I have to admit I spent the greater part of the day in tears and selfishly  thinking of everything I could possibly say to keep her from going.  That day I was looking at Pinterest and one of the first things I saw was this quote.  "It only takes one negative word to spoil a dream."  I firmly believe it was a message sent to me.  Also known as "Lord, put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!"

I am excited for her new adventure. She has always been independent and a hustler if she wants something she will give it her all to get it.  She has already achieved so much in her education.   We are so proud of her.  I want her to find a place in life that will make her happy.  It will be a new experience for us.  But we are supporting her all the way.  Even though our hands will be much farther apart our hearts will not.

I remember when she was close to graduating and leaving home I found this little book.    It was pictures and lyrics from "I Hope You Dance".  It touched my heart because it said things I would like to say to her. So I bought it for her.  This is one of the verses.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

And don't forget about those tickets!

We love you pumpkin!