Obviously writing is something I do, not only on this blog but other areas of my life. I decided to share what I wrote to my 11 year old daughter.
This photo is probably the most authentic one I’ve taken of you in quite sometime. It respresents you so well.
Everything from the Nike tennis shoes, blue t-shirt and athletic pants to the smile that expresses delight with something so natural (hay bales) as the back drop.
As I walked across grandma’s farm yard on this evening I heard the leaves crunching beneath my feet from her big oak tree and my view was of my little girl jumping from one hay bale to the other. All those things making me smile in the fall evening as the sun began to set.
The days of you snuggling and telling me all there is to know are getting less and I know that it’s a natural course of life, but it doesn’t make it easier for me. As your mother I see changes both physically and emotionally in you and struggle to stay the course at times myself. The years ahead will have so many facets to them that I don’t even want to ponder them at the moment. I just want to stay locked in this moment right here.
The one where you are still enjoying the child-like activities of the farm and growing your heart in ways I can’t even fathom. The one where I see my little girl that used to stand at the feed bunk unafraid of the cattle before her or the one excited to hold a new baby chick or ride to the pond with Dad and I.
I’m glad you aren’t growing up too fast, there’s time for that. Just keep growing my little girl, one day these will be your prized possessions of your heart and the foundation that built you to be who you are.
Love,
Mom
In Between the Sunsets of Life 