Journal the Journey

I interviewed our sweet, beautiful-from-the-inside-out seven (“and a half,” she points out) year old the other night, just for fun. Amidst questions about her favorite things, snuggled in between my inquiries of her current favorite song and favorite animal, I asked: “What’s your favorite weekly activity?”

And without skipping a beat, not even a moment of hesitation, she responds with: “Being with you. (Be still, my heart!) I melted, and I knew my little one was looking forward to Monday night. I thank God for leading me about four weeks back to mark all Monday nights as unavailable on my calendar.

On Monday nights, I alternate between taking out my two princesses for Mommy/Daughter Dates. Last week, Lexi Love and I had the best time together, having dinner at Cracker Barrel and doing a little shopping. I savored our conversations and with every smile she left new beautiful imprints on my heart, imprints that only she can leave. This week, ElleBelle and I had collectively planned to go to Panera (she loves their macaroni and cheese, which speaks volumes of its tastiness because she does NOT like macaroni and cheese from anywhere or anyone else!) and make these new paper-folding animal crafts she learned from a friend at school. Well, our date night got pushed back to tonight (Tuesday) due to a situation yesterday. We were both disappointed at first, but she cheered up after we told her that before bed I would be cutting her the bangs she’s been wanting.

We ended up having Panera with Dad and sis last night, so tonight she chose McDonald’s. I looked forward to our date all day, and after work I picked up a smiling sweetheart that was just as excited as myself. We went to Walmart for some supplies then made the half mile journey to McDonald’s.

She ate in lightning speed because she was excited about the paper crafts. As we worked away on our paper animals, she had a thought and she spoke it out loud because she needed me to know this: “Even if I mess up, it’s ok because this is just for fun.”

Our sweet ElleBelle has inherited some of my perfectionist tendencies. When I was in elementary and high school, I was such a perfectionist about my work that I would throw away my paper and begin all over again if I made a mistake in ink and did not have a white-out pen handy. She and I both are not perfectionists in all areas of life, and she is in some ways I am not and vice versa… but when it comes to writing and artwork we are one mind. Her Dad and I have been trying to teach her that it is ok to mess up, and that failure is good because it provides opportunity to learn and grow. She has such a desire to do everything perfectly that she sometimes won’t even attempt something if she isn’t confident she can succeed at it immediately. So her statement, “Even if I mess up, it’s ok because this is just for fun,” was packed with significance. If she wasn’t able to soothe herself with such a thought, the craft would not have been enjoyable; perfectionism and fear of falling short of it would’ve choked the life out of the moment.

I’m out of time, but I will pick back up here in the morning.