Awkward Mom vs. Bold Babies

Daring Darlings-

I want you bold. Intrepid. Brave. Undaunted. Adventurous. Audacious even.

Always Audacious. 

This is not an invitation to be careless. I want you alive, so look both ways, OK? In fact, look all ways. Try all foods. Smile at strangers. (Again, not careless; still no taking candy from them.) Experience new things. Dance to songs you don't know. Do cheesy things like take pictures in those billboards with cut-out heads. Laugh so hard you fall off the couch. Have strong opinions. Care way too much. Say no. Say yes. But be you. Not me. Not your father. Not your grandma or grandpa. Not your teachers. Not people you encounter on your trek toward world domination. I mean, we're all pretty great, so take the stuff you like and use it. But be boldly you.

You aren't babies anymore. Were you ever? These bold beings that burst into my life with places to go, stuff to do, things to change. I don't want to hold you back but I'm not ready to shove you from the nest, so here we are; a messy limbo land where you're too big and too small, where time crawls and flies and no one wants to sit still. Ever. I want to tell you to just wait. Wait; it gets so much better. Wait; slow down, you want to enjoy this part. Wait; you are going run into the....too late. We're always late, aren't we? Late and out of breath and flustered. OK, I'm really the only one flustered. I can't help it; you are the most awesome people I know and I am around you all the time. Frankly, it's a wonder anything gets done around here at all. And yet everything does get done and I don't actually know how I did anything before you and your boldness showed up because it's air to me.

So, stay here with me awhile longer. This childhood will be over before you know it, believe me. Stay here and practice your skills. Stay here and let me look at you a little longer, reach out and ruffle your hair one more time. Stay here and prepare to run things. Stay. Stay and be bold. Not that you know how to be anything else. You were born bold, so keep on being your bold yous.

\

This you.

And this you.

And this you. 

And this you. 

The world doesn't stand a chance.

So, be bold but benevolent dictators when you're in charge, OK?

I love you-

Awkward Mom