#2 graduates

It happened in a flash. I had a brief thought, 


"How hard can it be?", And the I sat my #2 down and decided I'd just trim up her hair. We couldn't seem to get her to be still, so I had to keep on evening it out. The next thing I know, I'm paying a professional to "fix it" adding, "but listen, she really likes to have chongos


(pigtails)" 

..I'd like to add that she started the hair cut first


(with a little help from her sister).

I just tried to fix it. That's what moms do, right? Fix it.

By the time she was graduating from Noah's Ark Preschool, she finally had just enough hair for chongos again. 
She was 5. I was 27. We were both babies, only beginning to navigate the unique paths of our roles.

This was the same year I asked to put her shoes on so we could get home, and while standing in the room in front of my in laws, she


turned and looked me straight in the face and said, "no." 

They say defiance is just determination peeking its head out. Yet when it's your 5 yr old, you pray you find the willpower to let her live to see another day. It wasn't too long after this that she made up her own school cheer..."what is the name of my school...it's Bears! Bears! Bears!..," 

Her dad and I looked at each other & did the


silent-"that's a negative ghost rider" nod to each other. (Silly girl...Hahaha Baylor? Hahaha! she'll


change her mind! We got plenty of time!)

We were such fools! 

She was tenacious and never let fear hold her back from something she wanted. 

My baby, my #2, graduates from college this week, and she is ridiculously loved by everyone who gets to know her. She is my planner, my


task master & my "schedule it, or I may not cooperate" child. The irony of this is that her birth could not have been more unplanned or


untimely...this mama was just not a big planner. I believe God looked down and saw this weakness in me and said, "Hey angels, gather round and watch this! I'm going to make this mama absolutely crazy, or help her get her act together." 

No doubt, the crazy prevailed.

#2 is FIERCELY loyal. Like to the point that if we even consider taking down someone who hurt her feelings or remotely offended her,


she defends them & asks us to stop. Seriously. Who does this? Once in junior high, her sister and her were fighting about something really important like clothes, & we were at the end of our rope! My man had a, "hold my beer" moment & grabbed each girl & made them face each other & said to #2-"I want you to hit your sister & get it all out!" She burst into tears and said,

"No daddy, I can't do that!" 

(*This parenting moment will clearly not make our yet to published book.)

#2 can be deeply wounded & hurt, but yet, will rally to the aid of the offender. As I stated above, Loyalty has long been her gift, but stubbornness & sleep are close contenders. The child can sleep & nap like no other. (Am I right, or am I right?)

We've been known to draw straws or play


rock/paper/scissors to determine who has to wake her up. We pray daily for the


future man she marries to love sleep as much as her & we hope he never has to wake her up.
(I don't see that marriage surviving if this one tiny detail can't be worked out!)

Oh, and that Cheer she did when she was 5...Yeah, that would prove to be her college of choice. We tried to sway her, but my girl wasn’t


having it.

We even went so far as to send only my man with her, on a college visit. We discussed how it would


go down in detail. The plan was simple: they’d go see the school, and he will


break it to her gently that Baylor is just not in the cards for us, she’ll cry,


but she'll recover and then we'll all move on. We got this!

I don’t know where it all went wrong, but the plan failed


and we drank the Kool-aid.  So we did


what parents do...we started bleeding money for the next 4 years. True story.

And indeed, she graduates as a Baylor Bear this morning.

Time has slipped through my fingers and although I've deeply mourned the loss of my chicks being in my home, I've equally tried to celebrate the birth of all the great things that young adult children bring to this season.

While finishing college is certainly a big deal, you should know, it's not the BIGGEST, nor the most important thing to me. For my


man & I, it's just a miraculous picture of God redeeming one of the many lost seasons in our lives - & it has only been sweeter when he's used our chicks to lavish His love & grace upon us.

You should know that #2 gave up on bangs and short hair many years ago, likewise, I eventually gave up trying to "fix it" all.

Her defiance did eventually evolve into determination. (Just stay the course mamas, the road is LONG!!)

She still won't hit her sister in a fight, and we try not to encourage violence as often.

Much has changed & much has stayed the same.

I miss that little girl with chongos and crooked bangs. Although I am super tempted to do her "cheer" as as she walks across the stage! 

Failing forward...

P