My Little Woman

Sixteen years ago, today

{Could it really be that long?}

Sixteen birthdays

Sixteen Christmases

Ten back-to-schools

Ten spring breaks

Ballet lessons

Vacation Bible School

Horseback riding lessons

Skating and skiing

Art classes

Horse Camp

Harp lessons

A baby yearned for 
and dreamed about for

nearly four long years.

Names we considered

but didn't choose

{according to her baby book}:

Grace

Charlotte

Anna 

Caitlin

Tate

My husband wanted

Carolina {pronounced

Care-o-leena} Elizabeth,

but we figured no one would

pronounce it correctly, so we went

with our next choice, Elizabeth

Caroline {Care-o-line}.

Some say Elizabeth comes

from the Celtic Beath,  meaning

life; others say it is from the

Hebrew Bethia, meaning house.

I figured that if she chose

to shorten her name, she

might choose Beth, like

the character from the 

story Little Women.

But she wasn't a Beth.

At three, she was a

Lily, as in the precocious

character from Lily and

The Purple Plastic Purse.

As she grew older,

she was more like Beth's

older sister, Jo ~ spunky

and Tom-boyish ~ wanted

to be a vet, rode horses and

fished and in third grade her

best friend was the new boy

in class. She collected rocks

at recess and loved Legos.

Second grade

Third grade best buddies

Summer before Sixth Grade

My dad called her his

plucky girl.  Back then,

he was the only one who

she would answer to

with a nickname.

Liz.

That all changed the

year that she changed

schools and started

as the new kid in

middle school.  I'm

not sure why, but her

Pa's plucky girl became

quieter and spent more

hours drawing in her tiny

room, enjoying time at

home, shining her mega-

watt smile {something

that has never changed}

on our little dog, rather

than on boys at the mall.

In short, she'd become

more like Beth and less

like Jo.

A homebody who would

do virtual high school if we

let her, she's most comfortable

in her flannel pj bottoms and

hoodies than in the latest

fashions.  She didn't pierce

her ears until 15 and swears

that she will never color

her hair, although if someone

else wants to {or even wear their

 hair red or purple or green} she

won't judge their choice.

Declared at seven that she'd

 never call us Mom and Dad, 

but always Mommy and Daddy.  

And she still does : )

My girl loves U-2, the

ASPCA, a good mystery,

Pixar, Etsy and the Discovery

Channel.  Her rendition of

the Theme from Up! on

her harp makes my heart sing.

Quietly faith-filled but still

gutsy enough to debate

anyone who would claim

that animals don't have souls.

While she answers mainly

to Elizabeth, many of her

close friends, and yes, often

her daddy and I, call her

Lizzie.

But in my heart, she's a Beth.

And like Beth, she is the heart

of our home.

A home that will seem oddly

different in two short years when

she leaves us for college.

My eyes well often, at the thought.

They have since I first waved her

off to school on the Kindergarten bus,

imagining our future ~ a distant future, I 

thought at the time ~ without her in it.

I still wave good-bye from inside the

 front door until the bus is out of sight,

and she still waves back.

For those of you with younger

children:  it comes fast, my friends.

For those of you who have already

let your birdies fly the nest, 
how did you do it?

Sixteen years.

My little girl is

now my little woman,

and I love her so.

xx

Suzanne

There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners

 till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees 

the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, 

and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, 

leaving silence and shadow behind.

~ Little Women

Posted in my girl