My Wish for My Daughter: Jump at the Sun!

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground. - Zora Neale Hurston

Swirl of Dreams

For me, it's been hard not to be an overprotective mom. In my BV (Before Vanessa) days, I was a daredevil, not hesitating for a minute to travel to places like Egypt right after the first Gulf War, walk through a line of machine guns at an airport, or walk through certain areas in New York City at 2am. I advised my nephew to take a trip to Turkey to have the time of his life, and came under the baleful eye of my brother when my nephew, his son, went missing for three days. But alas, he turned up, and did have the trip of a lifetime. I had no fear - that is until AV (After Vanessa). 

Now I am afraid for her to cross the street and she's 13. And for her end of the year trip, her class is repelling down a cliff. What the heck! Well, for someone terrified of heights (that's me, not my kiddo), this is my worst nightmare. But alas, I would have loved to have done that as a kid.

What I know is that I want my kid to take risks, emotional risks. To write that book if she wants. To work at inventing the pen for dyslexics if she thinks it's what she wants to do - it would be a valuable service for others. I want her to learn that it's ok to fail. She loves to succeed. 

I got lots of practice this past weekend. She's an Irish dancer who just hit prizewinner status about two months ago, and competed this past weekend for the first time on that level. She didn't win a medal. And she didn't feel great about her performance. But she's competing on a new level with girls who have done it for quite a while. And while I wanted to rescue her and to rail against competitions (I have not a competitive bone in my body), I stood back and quietly told her how proud I was of the hard work she's doing. 

And after days of being irritated, she practiced with her friends last night - and laughed in her sleep.

What a joy! She's jumping at the sun, and who knows where she may land!

Swirl of Dreams available for prints or tiles. Send me a message  

 ~ Billie

Billie Ray Wells

http://cometothegardenart.blogspot.com/
http://billiewells.fineartstudioonline.com/
"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"     -  Anne Frank