A Mistake I Didn't Make

Claire is just a little ray of sunshine.

Aren't all three year old girls who love to sing and twirl around the house in their princess costumes?

By now you've probably seen and heard the video of Claire, the cute little girl singing  Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid on  Facebook or Youtube.

Maybe, I'm getting sentimental in my old age as I get older, but that little girl really struck a nerve and shot an arrow straight through my heart, just like Cupid.

Seeing this video and hearing her sing the song brought up all kinds of memories and emotions of raising our oldest daughter. Some songs are like that. You hear them over and over, day after day. You know the ones - you even sing along with them and know all the words.
I'm sure they're playing at your house if you've got little ones running around.

Take note of the words they're listening to and characters they identify with, because they might just give you a little hint as to who they want to be.
Some days go by so slowly, but the years seem to fly by. Isn't there a quote like that?
Oh yeah, "the days are long, but the years are short". (Gretchen Rubin) 
You won't REALLY believe this is true until you get to the day your child is moving across country and you wonder where the time went.

I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Jess and Jenny wearing their Ariel and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) costumes I made.

For the record, we have two wonderful daughters, but The Little Mermaid was our oldest daughter's favorite movie, most likely because she was just like Ariel. 

 Ariel was a rebellious teenager curious about the great big world, wanting to live in a more exciting place. 

Hmmmm, who does that remind me of?

Yep, our oldest daughter.

She told us on the day we left Southern California for North Carolina, at the age of 7, that she was going to move back. 

And she did. 

She moved back at the age of 18, just a month or so shy of her 19th birthday. You can read about that day HERE. 

It was my fault she moved back.

What? 

Ok, not totally- I did suggest it, but she did all the work.
A post on Facebook gave me the idea that Jess could get a job in California with the company she worked for and live with a relative for a little while.


Why would I do that you ask?

Because that's what she needed...and wanted, even though she didn't ask.

I think that's the difficult part of being a parent.  Did I want her to move 2,500 miles away from me? 

Of course not. 

But, I knew that she needed to be on her own and to find her own way and it happened to be in a place that was far, far away.

The hard part of being a parent is letting go of what you want and getting them to be where they need to be. 
I made lots of mistakes as a parent, but I didn't make the mistake of holding her back, no matter how difficult it was for me to let her go. 

Yep, it's still difficult nearly 4 years later. 
I don't see her as much as I'd like. But, she's doing well and making her own way. 

And yes, she still likes to dress up and wear pretty clothes.

Instagram photo of Jess a few weeks ago

So thanks to little Claire for stirring up wonderful memories of our little girls twirling around in their princess costumes. 

Hope you're having a good day making memories with your little ones.

Pam