You looked so beautiful last night as you skipped out the door behind your dad.
I wondered briefly when you stopped calling him Daddy.
You had smiled at your reflection in the mirror after I gave your eyelashes the slightest dab of mascara and brushed your cheeks with a fluffy brush that clung to a few specks of color. You found your lip gloss on your own and applied it generously to your pink lips. "Is this good, Mom?"
A hesitant smile played on your face.
I wondered briefly when you stopped calling me Mommy.
"Almost perfect," I said. "The only thing that would make it better is if that little, shy smile turned into a big, confident one."
We were in the middle of braiding your hair when Daddy came home from work. He gave you just the reaction you were hoping for and you felt like the most beautiful girl in the world. As he left to get ready himself, I finished your hair with a bit of pomade to help calm the frizz around your face. You smiled in the mirror. "And Dad thought I looked pretty before!"
You did look pretty, Kenz. But it was the smile. The light in your eyes. The confidence. The bounce in your step. Those were the things that made you beautiful.
Beautiful! Enjoy that open smile while it's there...we don't see very many of those at 13. Instead we see small tight careful smiles... I'll be so happy when they can relax and smile freely again!
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing too many of those tight smiles lately from this little lady... I'm trying to fight it for all I'm worth - but maybe she just needs to go through that same self-conscious phase that most of the rest of us went through... the danger is that most of us don't ever get back to that same level of self-confidence we had as children. I hate for her to lose that.
DeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteShe is, isn't she! I hope she can see that all through these coming turbulent years... I'll tell you, I do not envy her in the phase of life she's entering!
DeleteMy heart skipped a few beats at how different she looks in these pictures from the last time I saw her. I still have a memory of her toddling around my bedroom the first time I ever watched her :).
ReplyDeleteDo you remember how middle school seemed like another life once you were graduating high school... even though only four years had passed? How can those sweet McKenzie toddler years seem so close to now?! One of my earliest memories of Brigham is of you holding his little arm and gently explaining *why* we don't hit people - especially if they're guests. :)
DeleteGorgeous and lovely :)
ReplyDeleteJust like you. ;)
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