Last night I found myself sitting in the audience of my daughter’s Fifth Grade Celebration. I could not help but wonder how that happened so fast? Wasn’t she just learning to read? Walk? Talk?
As I watched my daughter on stage singing every single word of every song never missing a single word, I smiled. As I watched her perform in the Spanish cultural dance, I smiled. 
As I watched her perform with a handful of other students who have all earned a high number of belts for Recorder Karate, I smiled. 
As I watched her receive an Artistic Excellence award, I smiled even though this one I knew of. As I watched her receive an Excellence in Coding for Computer Science, I smiled (the look on her face was priceless as we did not know this one was coming).
Then, as I watched her on stage as the concert wrapped up singing their final song, I almost had tears in my eyes. Okay….maybe I could have taken out the word “almost” in that sentence.
First of all, I shocked myself with how much I have changed. I was never a sentimental mom before; but now I find myself with tears all the time for my girls! Perhaps it is because I am so open to my feelings & thoughts now in my life & no longer tell myself I’m not allowed to feel something.
But, my tears were because of the pride I have in my daughter. She amazes me daily. I absolutely love how well-rounded she is in loving all different activities & opportunities as opposed to thinking she can only love sports or music or art, etc. She just loves it all. I say this as she is completely set on trying band next year in Middle School & this was something I never had on my radar for us!
But, I will encourage her & support her in every avenue she wants to journey down & I have zero doubt there will be many roads we will take.
Why? Because the girl is a student of life! She has such a drive!
She is always on the search for knowledge, regardless of the subject! This mama is always in observation mode watching her little mind hard at work! Not to mention, the times she pushes me to learn more, dig deeper, or look at something in a brand new way!
She is such a gift & I am her biggest fan taking it all in so closely & holding it all tight to treasure down the road.
I also could not get over taking pictures of her last night & looking at her face through my phone & suddenly realizing how much older she looks now! Really?? This is her & her best friend from Tee-ball to now! 
For those of you who might think that having girls should allow for very easy picture taking….I cannot tell you how long or how many shots it took to get just one good picture to have! But, we giggled & really those are my favorite shots! Simply because, that is us & her giggle is one of my most favorite sounds in the world! 
Keep shining, my J! I cannot wait to see what the next road has for you & I will be right there cheering you on always!
Until Next Time~
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