Five Minute Friday: Imagine

We write for five minutes flat. All on the same prompt that she posts here at 1 minute past midnight EST ever Friday. And we connect on Twitter with the hashtag #FiveMinuteFriday

No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.

This Week: Imagine

Go

In twelve days, my baby girl is going to graduate from high school. I can’t believe that day is already here. I know that every year I said it was going so fast – and I meant it every year. But it just seemed to go faster and faster every time I turned around.

I peek at her now when she thinks I’m not watching. Watch the way her lips move as she sings along silently to her iPod – green eyes flashing the way they have since she was five. Despite all the height (dang – she finally leveled out at five feet, eleven inches) she still moves with all the grace she had when she sliced through the water in the pool each summer. Every time taking long strokes and deeper breathes – going a little bit farther, a little bit faster.

Her final show at the School of the Arts was a success. A glorious triumph that began as a toddler’s obsession with being “just like Mama.” Her desire to pick up a camera and capture life on film – find those moments that matter and preserve them. I kept looking at those shots and thinking, yeah, I see that – I see how she sees that. Some are just from everyday life: dishes drying in the drain; spangled with beads of water, images from her garden – early radishes sprouting under the pale, February light. Some are from far-flung places: our mission trip to India: brightly-hued clothing mixing with dusty feet on neighborhood children come to hear the Gospel story. But they are all her vision. They are all her world.

I see her now, honey-hair falling long; that sweet smile that still captures my heart – and I know her heart has survived. Those years when I thought I was going to pull my eyeballs out in frustration over our struggles with school are a blessedly distant memory. We’ve had bumps. But we’re here. And her future is laid out before her, paved with prayers and His blessing.

I hold her father’s hand; rest my head on his shoulder and know that her name has been spoken true. She is a faith hunter. And she is the child of our heart, who’s strength comes from love.

Stop

I hope this isn't cheating, but I realized I should probably provide some perspective after I read a couple of comments - which are so sweet - thank you. My daughter is currently nine, and we are in the midst of a difficult time (and that's putting it mildly) with school and such. Tonight's prompt allowed me to visit a time in the future where these current years are in the past, and she's off on her own God-blessed adventure with so much of this behind her - and behind us. Thank you for the induldgence.

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