to my daughter
January 24, 2016 § 2 Comments
Earlier this week Dad and I stumbled across a video – you and your brother, years ago, hamming it up for the camera. It was one of those spontaneous living-room productions, siblings collaborating in boredom.
The first part of the video was painful, you were directing your brother’s performance; an overly articulated, forced execution of a joke the audience could not decipher. I was set to delete the clip until the very end when your face popped into the frame. Speaking directly to the camera, your image consuming the screen, your voice boomed with the comedic timing and grit of a weathered entertainer proclaiming affection.
Love you, people. Love ya!
It was almost physical the way you threw your words. Fearless and playful.
You have long since layered yourself in more cautious performances of self. The world around you has etched away at the tough exterior, but your spirit is no smaller.
I’m saving the clip for the days you hide behind your doubts or hesitate too long in joy. For the time when you are old enough you cannot remember being little, or when you feel too small in your imagination. When the world feels too serious and you lose perspective, I hope your own words echo my love back to you.
I want you to celebrate yourself at five, dressed in your big brother’s hand-me-down astronaut costume, directing play and relishing in the spotlight; commanding sight and tossing love noisily into the moment.
Love, Mom
scribblechic 
And no human knows a love like a mother…and I’ve seen them nurturing in their sleep, their love knows no bounds.
You’ve taught her well Marie, your daughter is in safe hands, but I’m not sure in her choice of career path…’astronaut’…but no doubt, being her mothers daughter, she could do that with ease 🙂
Thankfully love is more steadfast than career choices.