to my daughter
March 22, 2014 § 2 Comments
This new struggle that shadows your days, the quiet companion that undermines your confidence and disrupts your joy, is never far from my thoughts. I wonder at its shapeless form and curiously inventory our days for clues to its cause.
Your ghost is unfamiliar to me, but the secrecy you cloak your struggle in betrays your worries. False reassurances of I’m okay rattle noisily like a silent alarm within my heart.
I cannot call out your demons without a name, so I peer into the darkness trying to find the unguarded entrance to your thoughts that invites this companion’s burden. Like the boogeyman that lingers only in our dreams, I want to dispel the power that resides in silence.
Know this, no one can suffer the burden of fear and worry alone; these are companions meant to be shared with trust and love. Giving voice and naming our challenges gives us the power of choice and diffuses the burden of shame. Your strength is greater in vulnerability and your courage fortified in self-worth.
In the morning, just before you wake to the memory of your worries, I see the peaceful reprieve of your sleep and wish that today you will shine light into the corners you keep so well guarded. So wake up, Sweet Girl, and feel the warmth of Spring’s sunshine and the promise of this day. Love, Mom
Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you. ~Walt Whitman
scribblechic 
“I’m ok” sure sets off the universal parent “there is a problem” detector lights.
It is difficult when sometimes, all that can be offered is support–waiting until another is ready for more. Understanding that you are there means more to her than you will ever know.
If only there were a way to lend our children the wisdom of our hindsight without undermining the richness of their own experiences.