LET THEM BE...

LET THEM BE...

     Let them be little, individual, original, fun, adventurous, happy but most of all LET THEM BE!  We all want the best for our kiddos but sometimes the best for us, as parents, is to just LET THEM BE.  As hard as it may be I think it's very important to do this with my kiddos.  I want them to be just as God intended them to be, not what society thinks they should be or what I think they should be.  So here's the story that this picture reminded me of...

     My dad was great at letting me be me and encouraged me to think for myself.  I think sometimes he was rethinking this when I wouldn't think just as he did about things.  Most people thought and still think that I am just like my dad and that I think like him too.  Interesting enough, dad and I don't think the same about everything.  He loved to challenge me when I didn't think along his same lines, which was always fun!  I admired this about my parents teaching me to think for myself even if it meant that I wouldn't think or do things just they way they wanted.  It's a gift they've given me and I'm going to give it to my boys.  With four boys, I can only imagine what individuals they'll turn out to be and I'm sure that we won't always see eye to eye.  I'll just have remind myself that I succeeded if they don't think exactly like me!

     I was about four, same age as Trevin is now in this picture, and I had quite a sense of style.  My dad worked odd hours in the oilfield and my mom worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone.  I remember my dad usually taking me to preschool and my mom picking me up.  So what's a little girl to do when her mom leaves for work early in the morning, well play in her momma's makeup of course!  I loved and still do love makeup (even though you'd never know it now because I wear very little!).  I can still remember my mom's makeup laid out on the bathroom counter.  I would climb on the toilet over to the counter and I was in heaven!  I had watched my mom and would do just like she did.  Every little girl wants to be just like her momma and I was no different even though I was quite a bit tomboy.  So I just had the best time using all the same makeup that my mom used and made myself beautiful.  Now I don't know if my dad really thought I looked as beautiful as I thought I did but he made me feel like a beautiful princess, just like he made my mom feel I'm sure.  He let me wear it to preschool and I will never forget feeling like the most special little girl in the world walking into school looking like what I think is awesome.  The other little girls were like, "WOW!".  Now that I'm a parent I'm thinking the other moms and teachers were probably thinking how sad, that little girl has to have her dad bring her to school and he didn't even know how to get her here without her getting into everything.  What they didn't realize is that I had the best of both worlds!  It didn't matter what those people thought of me, my dad thought I was beautiful and that I'd done a good job with 'honey's' (that's what my mom & dad call each other, honey) makeup.  I got to be just like my mom and my dad thought I was just as beautiful as my mom.  I mean seriously how much better can it get for a little girl?

    Last week my sweet Trevin was so proud of himself when he put on this tie with his school shirt and I had to just smile.  I took his picture and told him how good he looked and sent him on his way.  He dressed himself and was super proud and I couldn't have been happier.  I just sat in the car after he got out and cried for my dad.  I would've text him that picture and then he'd call me up and we'd laugh and talk and he'd tell me how much he loved it.  Then we'd talk about the story above or some other time that I was spreading my wings showing my individuality!  And dad would always tell me what a good job I was doing with the boys and remind me not to worry about what others or society thinks.  Man do I miss him!  I miss sharing all this with him!  I miss hearing his voice!  I miss his advice!  I miss his laugh, oh man his laugh was the best!  I guess I just miss my best friend, who just happens to be my dad next to Gary of course.  So I pulled myself together and drove home thinking about all the awesome memories and life lessons I have from my dad.  I thought about how I want to have the same with my boys and their kiddos.  I thought about how life goes on, just like dad taught me.  I thought about how he'd always tell me that material things will come and go but it's what you instill and the memories you make that will get passed on from generation to generation.  Then with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye, I knew my dad would be proud and that I will always miss him!  But I will KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON just like he taught me.

Trinity

Please excuse the past and present tense usage...it's still hard for me to consistently use past tense!  I may never completely use past tense, and guess what I don't really care.  We all have our own ways to deal with things.  My parents taught me to be me, so that means I don't have to handle this like everyone else or how society thinks I should.  Thanks for reading and I really need a sarcasm font!