You stand in your crowded living room and straighten your dress.
Everyone anticipates your daughter's arrival at her graduation party you planned in her honor.
Your eyes fall on her high school photo album. You pick it up and glide your finger across the stitching on the cover. She's changed in 4 years. Her eyes have the same fire but more wisdom. Her smile is just as joyful but possesses more compassion. You open the book and like a dream go back to her senior year in high school and one of the best days you ever had with your daughter...
On that day, life slowed down. You took time between the hustle and bustle of activities and life to just be together. The whole day you spent time doting on her. You enjoyed lunch together at Olive Garden and spent an hour giggling over minestrone soup and salad and ate way too many deliciously addicting breadsticks. You both shrieked in laughter as the nail technician tickled your toes during your pedicures.
As the stylist let the last curl fall, you saw your baby girl- the one for whom you packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts torn off in a Disney princess lunchbox for her first day of kindergarten... wasn't that just last year?!?- as she was on that day, a beautiful young woman with fire in her eyes and joy on her lips.
You spent the evening celebrating her with her senior portraits. The person she had grown into. Without realizing it, you both also celebrated you. You helped shape her. You helped her to overcome her fears and to chase her dreams.
You never realized that day would be just as much about you as it was about your daughter.
You slowed down and really admired and reflected on who she was on that day. Her life, from a bouncy toddler plodding around in footed pajamas, to lanky tween with a heart for every animal she saw, to gorgeous high school senior who had a zeal for life. Even though you were at every competition, every performance, and truly invested in her life, the minutes somehow slipped by. You thought you were always with her and experiencing the days together, but in between the busyness, life was passing you both by.
It wasn't until the day of her senior portraits that you realized...
Wow, she's all grown up.
Your high schooler is always on the go. From the time she wakes up until her sweet brunette head hits her pillow, she's in high gear. Whether it is cheer practice, long workouts at the gym, an extra study session with the tutor, her part-time job, hanging out with her friends, or volunteering and reading a book to younger kids at the library, her plate is full.
Your commitments aren't any less. You coordinate her schedule and the family schedule, wash all the clothes, make sure that your family has nutritious food to fuel their bodies, you take care of you and everyone else in your home, volunteer, and make sure she and everyone else arrives on time to each of their activities. And that is above and beyond your career.
Between the hustle and bustle of life, senior year, and all the activities, it is hard to slow down and spend time together. It is hard to slow down, relax, and get to enjoy each other's company. It is nearly impossible to relish in this last season of their high school career because of all the big living that senior year brings.
The point is this: I get it. You are busy. Your daughter is busy. And this time in your life is something that you want to relish and enjoy.
This will be you soon: Your high school senior waves at you in the sea of moms, dads, grandparents, family and friends. She walks across the stage in her 4 inch stilettos, cap and gown, vigorously shakes the principal’s hand, eagerly grabs her diploma, and smiles as she navigates her way back to her seat in the overcrowded coliseum.
As she walks back to her chair, time slows for you...
Think back to the story at the beginning. Will you get to have that same experience with your daughter? Will you get the chance to slow down, relax and laugh with her, and to really cherish who she is today, as a senior in high school? Will you get to really and truly appreciate the young lady she is today?
Will you get to have that experience of mother and daughter pampering and relaxation; likely one of the last big mother and daughter days until she graduates?
Let's do that. Let's make this a season of life that you enjoy now and remember fondly... just in time before graduation.
Bonus!
Contact me before October 13 to receive a bonus styling session with a fashion and wardrobe styling professional.
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