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Seeing the World Through My Daughter’s Eyes
She has the childhood I always wanted, and I couldn't be happier
A few weeks ago, my daughter was beside herself and could barely force any words out through a tangle of tears. Eventually, my little girl told me she was crying because she was so happy with her life that she never wanted anything to change. Her grandma had said something that morning about her turning ten next year, and the thought of double-digits made her realize life won’t be like this forever, so she was upset.
My first reaction (once I’d comforted her) was that I was shocked she wanted everything to stay the same given the pandemic woes of the past year and a half. That wasn’t the point, though. Of course, life without restrictions and quarantining would be better, but she wants to preserve this stage of her life, and I get it. She has a loving family, theater, Girl Scouts, homeschool — all of which she loves. Talking to her triggered my second reaction, which was a realization of how different our childhoods were.
I won’t pretend there were no happy times in my childhood because there were. However, generally speaking, I spent my younger years biding my time until I was old enough to leave home. I definitely didn’t want to stay nine years old. I was honestly pretty miserable. Through all of it, I vowed to…
