finding an old journal

[My thoughts on daughters from 30 years ago]

Daughters are a glorious reminder of life -- from the early days when we counted their fingers and watched their toes and wondered how anything so little could be so completely human. Little girls are fun because you don't have to cut their hair and they can wear dresses and bows and they smile and giggle sweet smiles and giggles that remind us that life is funny and silly sometimes as well as serious. In their early sweetness and innocence, they teach us about loving and patting and taking care of things -- we can see

And then they get bigger and more complicated and they cry more and remind us that we aren't perfect and neither are they, and they start having friends and sometimes we get a glimpse of the woman who will someday be old enough and secure enough to be one of the woman friends in our lives.

We can continue to teach each other. Daughters live experiences that we somehow missed and teach us lessons, painful ones and glorious ones that imprint themselves upon us with a power that seems as strong or stronger that that felt from our own experiences.

We worry too much and remind too often and pray all the time that our daughters can somehow grow better and stronger than we are. They remind us that they are not little copies of our present maturity. [They can't even & They can't really believe we were ever real teenagers and (originally crossed out)] we were teenagers once.
and listen with closed ears
and busy hands
and watch at the wrong times
But our daughters manage to remind us that we too are daughters, daughters of mothers as well as daughters with them of a heavenly father & mother.

One of the precious memories of my life is going off with my mother on a vacation --
the two of us and my friend, a daughter of one of my mom's friends.[My sister Betty and my friend's mother were also along, but evidently not included in this remembering.]
We took off for South Dakota and shopped and swam and drove and walked. My Mom was a fast walker and it seemed like I could never catch up but that trip she slowed down and smiled at me more. Today let's decide to walk slower
and listen with open ears
and see with our daughters eyes
and learn from them how to live more gloriously

Today let's decide to walk slower.