Tag: #mydarlingdaughter

Love and Light

· 15 Comments ·

Today is her birthday and she turned 21.

She’s not here though. She’s in England.

It’s an odd feeling for both of us. We were texting the other night about her turning 21, and she said, “I wish I were five.” Well, my darling. I remember five, and wondered if I’d do anything different? Then she said, “We have a beautiful life.”

bayandmomo
Here she is at 5 years old.

She is the reason I started this Blog.

Just because I’m  taking a break from Blogging, doesn’t mean I cannot celebrate this day with you. The meaningful work-To serve the people I care about by writing another chapter. Let’s write more chapters.

One of my favorite pictures of us was right after we moved into our first home together. It was a tiny house situated on 40 acres of land. I kept her hook baited, while she fished from the pier. That pier is where I stood with God every morning before dawn. That was also the house that taught us how to kill scorpions.

We were walking to the truck, and you grabbed me for a selfie. We weren’t wearing any makeup, and I had forgotten to use eye drops that morning, but it was a moment. Even blurry-eyed, we have that ‘deep in your heart’ happiness. Our life felt groundless, as the only thing we knew we had was God, and He has us.

2014
March 2014

We’ve had chickens, kittens, dogs, and a baby duck live with us. You think it’s normal to hang a disco ball in an old oak tree. When we decided to move, I had to leave it there because it was infested with ants, but you bought a new one for here.

The light from the disco ball dances across the kitchen table where you sit, but today even though your chair is empty, the light is still there. Our life is made of love and light.

I’m here to wish you a spectacular birthday! It’s a new chapter and you’re holding the pen. Touch it to the paper my darling, and make it what you want. Feel and see the love and light.

theworld

Advertisement

Inhale. Exhale. Dream.

· 4 Comments ·

I washed our bath robes today.

My daughter has so much going on in her life, the best way I can help is doing little things around the house, so her home life remains calm.

I was putting her robe in the dryer and paused to look at the label. I couldn’t recall if it was the same brand as mine. The waffle weave is similar.

It’s not the same brand, but I love what it says.

robe

That’s exactly where I stand today.

When our hearts are open, life will show us what we need to see.

When her heart needs confirmation I hope she pauses before sliding on that robe, sees the label and breathes in these three words…

Inhale. Exhale. Dream.

Show Me Love

· 2 Comments ·

My daughter and I an amazing relationship.

She is my very best friend, and my hero. She just celebrated her one year anniversary, dating a guy that lives in Missouri. I’ve been sitting here pondering how she at 17, can have a better relationship than most adults.

Some things I see them do is they accept one another for who they are. Flaws and all. They also communicate constantly. If something is bothering her, no matter how trivial, she tells him, and they talk it through.

They have their own lives, but they make one another a priority in it. Her philosophy is, “Treat him the way I want to be treated in return.”

That has worked for us for years. My daughter and I never fight, and have not even raised our voices to one another. We treat one another the way we want to be treated. Children copy what they see. When the time came to leave her father, one of my reasons was, I didn’t want her to grow up and think what she saw was a healthy marriage.

I wanted her to see love.

They give true meaning to the word ‘relationship.’ It’s a work in progress. They are grounded within themselves, so they don’t look to one another for completion. They enjoy their lives, but being together makes life that much sweeter. Watching what they have is like seeing everything love is.

img_50531

In this pic, she is super made up. She is a natural beauty, and doesn’t need all this makeup, but it was prom, and they sent me this silly moment. They tried to make me feel included.

This boy is coming to visit on Wednesday. He has never visited us, so this is exciting! All those airline miles her father and I collected over the years came in handy. Her father has flown with her to see him once every 90 days. They are going to ACL is Austin, TX which is exciting enough, but the anticipation of seeing each other face to face is pretty intense.

She is beyond excited, and has it all planned. She is picking him up from the airport, and has an itinerary planned for each day he is here. She wants to show him the best in Texas, but what she may not know is, he’s going to be ecstatic just seeing her.

img_50481

Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “Oh, young love.” I am writing this and thinking, I want what they have. It can be like this at any age. When you love someone they should be an intimate part of your life, even if you’re not together. They call to hear one another’s voice, and rarely text. They write letters and mail them to each other.

Will they last? Only God knows that because He has her life planned. Even if they don’t, to be able to have such an amazing relationship at such a young age. What a gift! She has told me before, “I live in amazement of your daily life.”

Well my darling daughter, I get to live in amazement of you in yours. May God continue to bless you in all you do, and in who you love.

Box of Love

· Leave a comment ·

When I began Blogging, my thought was, this is for my daughter Bailey. To have a place to go and read about our journey together. What goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet, is our motto.

This guy in Missouri has been talking with her for a while now. His name is Brett, and he works at Starbucks. His name starts with a B, like all our family members, and he works at a coffee shop. Brett bought Bailey a reusable cup from Starbucks.

This one cup is how the box of love began.

He started dropping stuff in the cup when he came home from work. The items were random things he had laying around his room that he thought Bailey would like. Guitar picks and a cool guitar capo. The capo was so unusual; it took us a minute to figure out what it was. He wanted to tell her, ‘You Rock,’ so he taped a rock to a piece of paper and put it in the cup. There was more he wanted to send, so the cup went into a box, and he started adding to the box.

He wrote messages on index cards. The cards were in a stack, as she went through and read each one, her smile growing larger all the while. I noticed how she pulled each item out and looked at it like a mysterious treasure. Knowing that his hand touched it, his thought was behind it, and the t-shirts smelled like his cologne.

It was a box of love and light.

The joy that each item brought her was priceless, even though the only money he spent was on the postage. The box took some time, effort and thought, which is important to any relationship. Brett showed us you can put love in a box, and send it, but the secret is not to keep it in the box.