Beautiful inside and out

I've been feeling very nostalgic lately. Maybe it's because we're about to have our 3rd and last child. Maybe it's because this will be Meagan's last year at elementary school. Shoot, maybe it's because NiNi got her hair cut. Regardless, I am often struck by what a beautiful young lady Meagan is becoming. The above picture was taken on her first day of kindergarten. I love the "identifying information" that is safety pinned to her shirt (in case she got shuffled onto the wrong bus on into the wrong lunch line). I also very vividly remember her SECOND day of kindergarten. I was working early so Chris got her dressed and onto the bus in the morning. As I watched her walk off the bus later that day, her shirt was on backwards. It was August and hot so she was wearing a shirt that scooped way down in the back....except the back was now the front. And it had been that way for the entire day. She was happy as a lark, her little bare chest glistening in the sun! Now she plans her outfits, and thinks about her hair, and whether her hair, glasses and braces will all "go" together. I am no longer allowed to download music to her MP3 player since the last song I put on there was from a Disney princess movie. I also see her trying to do the right thing and navigate her way in a sometimes very morally dark world. When I am having a bad day, she takes on this nurturing persona as if to say "It'll be ok mom." She has dealt with some rough circumstances at a time when she was very impressionable and God has used it to make her into a very sensible young girl. She is intuitive, compassionate, creative, thoughtful, funny and smart as a whip. And a life-saver at times when it comes to helping out with her sister or around the house. I realized the other day the I have crossed an important milestone in my parenting....Meagan is now actually very helpful and can do a whole host of chores totally independently. I remember the same sort of euphoria when I realized my kids could buckle their own seat belts. When they are little, you let them help "clean" to give them something to do, knowing it will cost you dearly in the end. Now I can say to Meagan, "go empty the dishwasher" and then I go to the dishwasher and it is empty...amazing! But seriously, more than the indentured servitude, I love how our friendship is blossoming. I am super fired up about having a son, but for some reason I've always dreamt of having a daughter. Of having someone who was my daughter and my friend. I'm sure there will be some rocky times ahead, but for now I am relishing the fact that she confides in me. Of course she still teases her sister, forgets her backpack and leaves the milk out EVERY MORNING. But she is growing up. And she is stunningly beautiful...inside and out.