“Pretty dancing girl dancing gracefully… sets my heart awhirl.” Arriving at my parents’ home, many times you can hear the polka music playing in the background, as my father answers the front door with his arms wide open and his feet nearly coming off the ground to welcome us home. His arms stretched wide ready to wrap us in his love and dance with us a moment. Some days we give him a hard time about being over- the- top animated, but the truth is we wouldn’t want it any other way. It is certainly one of the ways I envision greeting the day. Dancing into life, ready to wrap my arms around the day filled with love.
Our goodbye’s as we get ready to leave from my parents can sometimes be just as exciting as our hello’s. They typically walk us out and talk to us in the driveway. Then stand in their driveway to see us off. Some days our departure can be so beautiful in the amount of love that is shared in our last moments together before heading into the week. Someone witnessing the flutter of waves to one another and the “I love you’s” called out from each person in the car as we pull away from the house, might think that we are not going to see each other for several months, but the fact is it may just be a few days until our next visit. The excitement and love that we feel for each other in that moment can sometimes be what carries us through the week.
As I thought more about the flutter of waves, I remembered a dream that I had recently. In the dream, I was riding with a truckload of my cousins. I have no idea where we were headed, but I do know that there was a small child, about age 3 standing on the top edge of the bed of the truck. She was dressed in a white pinfold dress with maroon trim and holding onto a small orange and yellow flag that fluttered in the air as we drove. In my dream, I remember feeling so scared that she was going to slip off the edge of the truck. I could not figure out for the life of me why her mom was so laid back about her standing on the edge as we rode along. As I woke up from my dream though, I could not help, but smile. That little girl was so brave and so over the top excited about life! She was standing on the edge. She wasn’t the least bit concerned with what might happen, she didn’t need to be. She was young, innocent, and free. She was having fun!
For the Mom’s reading this it reminded me that it’s okay for our children to stand on the edge. That is how they gain strength and confidence. And, if they fall it’s how they learn to dust themselves off and keep on going. It’s how they stay excited for life!
It also reminded me, that as adults we can become anxious if we feel ourselves standing on the edge. At some point our innocence was stripped away, we fell, hurt ourselves and eventually realized that sometimes the world is not all that forgiving. So, we worry that we might fall. We worry that we might hurt ourselves. We worry that… the cycle of worry perpetuates itself in our minds. Our once white pinfold dress is now soiled with one fall, one worry at a time and soon we begin to move further and further away from the over-the-top excitement we once held for life. We begin to move further and further away from the edge. We begin to build walls around our heart to protect it. To keep it from falling. To keep it from hurting. Our once brave-self hides away until we feel safe to stand on the edge again.
So, for just a moment today practice standing on the edge!
Take a moment today to turn on a joyful tune, stretch your arms wide open, and smile a big ‘ol smile. Close your eyes for just a second, take a deep breath in, let your heels come off the ground and wrap your arms around the day. Receive all the love it holds in store for you and jump into the day animated!
Have a beautiful day ya’ll!!
All my love,
Jen
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