Autumn on her graduation

Danielle and Autumn c. 2000

Right now, she is at her graduation rehearsal.

Right now, she is looking at her friends and walking the hallways of the place she will no longer be.  Not knowing what the future holds, not knowing who her friends will be or where she will struggle or where she will succeed.  All of the sameness and routine and friendly faces will soon become her past.  And in her past she will see all the things she did right and the things she wished she hadn't and the things she wished she had.

Danielle and Autumn c. 2012

Is it fair to think of your daughter as your hero?  Is it okay that when I see her joy and light I see all the things I wasn't at her age and that it fills me hope?  Is it acceptable for a mother to see her daughter at this age and know with every fiber of her being that her daughter is going to okay.  That her future knows no limit, that I believe in her with a might and ferocity that could tumble a mountain to dust?
I see my Autumn's steely spine and her grit and her drive.  I know that she is going to take big risks in her life.  Risks I wouldn't even dream of.  I know that she will travel and see more of this country by her mid-20s than I have yet to see in my lifetime.  I believe that she will create for herself the kind of life people talk about having.  I believe that she will be happy and that she will carry that joy to anyone she meets and befriends along her way.

I see her.  I see her sprinting through this next phase of her journey as though she were to born to be there.  Confidently walking in the direction of her dreams...

Autumn 3/17/2012