As I write this, my daughter is sleeping blissfully on the bed next to me in our hotel room in Albuquerque. What a day we spent. We took her to her first amusement park today. We were kind of worried that she might be too scared of the rides. Boy were we wrong. She was fearless. My mom would warn me now to stop bragging on my daughter, but there was simply no fear in her. She wanted to go on this big ride called Rocket something, but she was too short of the height requirement.
I was about to escort her to the bumper cars, but she let go of my hand and looked at me and said, "I can do it myself daddy." With that, she smiled and ran off to the ride. My sisters would call me drama-queen, but my heart skipped. I couldn't help but to think that this is the slippery slope of my little girl growing up. And way too fast. I know it was just one incident, but it's a metaphor for our children growing up way too fast. Before I know it she'll be telling me that she can do it herself driving the car, finding a college, or walking down the aisle. OK, scratch that last one off because that's one thing she CAN'T do herself. LOL
The other thing I can't get out of my head is her looking for me as she circled the rides and saying, 'Daddy.' And this is the happiest I've seen her in a while, and made me realize how happy I was. My happiness is intricately tied to hers. All the cares of the world slipped away. I quietly thanked God for His blessings. If God called me home tomorrow, I'd go a happy man. Often times we look to big things, big achievements, big accolades to validate ourselves. But God shows us that it's in the simple joys in life that give it real meaning. My daughter rode a roller coaster today. And it meant the world to me.
I was about to escort her to the bumper cars, but she let go of my hand and looked at me and said, "I can do it myself daddy." With that, she smiled and ran off to the ride. My sisters would call me drama-queen, but my heart skipped. I couldn't help but to think that this is the slippery slope of my little girl growing up. And way too fast. I know it was just one incident, but it's a metaphor for our children growing up way too fast. Before I know it she'll be telling me that she can do it herself driving the car, finding a college, or walking down the aisle. OK, scratch that last one off because that's one thing she CAN'T do herself. LOL
The other thing I can't get out of my head is her looking for me as she circled the rides and saying, 'Daddy.' And this is the happiest I've seen her in a while, and made me realize how happy I was. My happiness is intricately tied to hers. All the cares of the world slipped away. I quietly thanked God for His blessings. If God called me home tomorrow, I'd go a happy man. Often times we look to big things, big achievements, big accolades to validate ourselves. But God shows us that it's in the simple joys in life that give it real meaning. My daughter rode a roller coaster today. And it meant the world to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment