Choose Your Own Adventure

To my loves - my Heart, my Joy and my Adventure............

I have dreams for you.

I have hopes for you.

I pray prayers for you.

I want so much for you.

And yet.

I am not YOU.

My dreams may not be yours.

My hopes may not be yours.

My prayers may not be yours.

But my love is yours - never changing, never based on what you do rather based on who you are - my child - forever and always.

My time is yours - to fill with your stories and your excitement and your pride and your heartaches and your disappointments.......I will listen to it all - forever and always.

My home is yours - for growing up in, decorating, running about in, living in and in the future for visits and stays, a safe place to come home to - forever and always.

My arms are yours - for late night cuddles, early morning snuggles, for soothing hurts and calming fears, for one day welcoming your love and then your little loves, they will be waiting to be filled - forever and always.

For when you were born, my loves.............my life got bigger.

My heart got bigger.

My dreams got bigger.

My hopes got bigger.

My life got bigger.

YOU are my adventure.

And as I watch you grow and love and live........I see glimpses of  YOUR adventure.

I see beauty that finds adventure in the pages of a book, in the helping and loving others.  I see you come alive when you are learning and then teaching.  I see the grace and poise you exhibit in so many situations.  I see how you have awaken to who you are and that your adventure is more of a quiet sort but no less of an adventure.  You dance and glide across a stage, silent but beautiful as you perform in front of so many.   You live, at times, this secret life where you thoughts are hidden and your desires are written...........until you find a quiet time, a safe person, a trusted friend........oh and then the words don't stop and once again it is beauty that pours forth in the guise of silliness and dreams and insight and more.  I love that you choose well and choose with care who you share your heart with.

How my heart swells to see you living a life of adventure - not my adventure but yours.

I am so proud of you, the one I call my HEART.

I see my rough and tumble, always moving, always wanting more and impatient for the next thing boy............you are a bit more obvious in your adventures, my love.  You careen down steep hills, wrestle with friends, tackle your momma and will sacrifice life and limb to block any soccer goal.  It seems soccer is, indeed, a contact sport when you play.  You run head first into life - sometimes thinking, sometimes not.  And yet........you have quiet moments of hearing from God and have a depth of insight that belies the rough and tumble boy you present to the world.  You are attentive and have a respect for those you trust, those in authority.  You are a perfectionist.  What an anomaly you are, my love.............I can't wait to see what it is you do in life.

And how my heart swells to see you living a life of adventure - not my adventure but yours.

I am so proud of you, the one I call my JOY.

And oh my...............that last.  The last, hip-shaking, Jersey-accented, LOOK AT ME, comfort-seeking, always messy, crazy girl.  You have never met a mirror you didn't love.  You sit at my vanity and peer into it, singing and posing and applying whatever it is you can find.  And when you apply make-up or nail polish or glitter or paint or accessories your motto is MORE IS BETTER.  You make us laugh, my love.  You make us shake our heads in wonder.  You make us crazy.  For you are a feeler - everything is FELT and it's felt in a BIG way.  Whether that emotion is love or sadness or hurt or disappointment or joy or excitement.  It's go big or go home with you.

And how my heart swells to see you living a life of adventure - not my adventure but yours.

I am so proud of you, the one I call my ADVENTURE.


So know, my loves, whatever it is you choose to do, whatever adventure you choose.......

My love, my time, my home, my arms..............

They are yours.

But your life?

Well..............it's a choose your OWN adventure kind of story.

I love you.