Moving Forward, Back In Time
Beginning in 2009 when my daughter was four years old, I would get us season passes to our local amusement park- Hershey Park, every year.
The first few years I spent my summers and early autumns happily watching her flutter from ride to ride, to her heart’s content. Usually until closing time, 10:00pm.
For some time, she was only tall enough for two “big” roller coasters, so we rode those quite frequently. I smile as I recall how I’d reach across the seat each time to hold her little 40-50 lb body down so she wouldn’t fly out! The steep hills and bumps sure did throw her lightweight self around!
We had a specific route we would take around the park. She danced like a fairy from ride to ride, not a worry in the world just giggling her way through the park. The kiddie swings, the little lady bug roller coaster, the little pirate ship, and she’d always hit the carousel on the way out. I stood there watching and smiling ear to ear as she rode the rides, much like every other doting mom.
Each growth spurt gave us an opportunity to celebrate with new rides that she was now tall enough for, and eventually ALL the roller coasters! Our route never changed through the years, only the rides she’d stop for changed. By the time she was a teenager our route was pretty much a roller coasters-only route. They were our favorites.
It’s now 2021 and my little girl has transformed into a 16 year old young lady. But of course, as her parent, I still see a little girl. It’s been two years since we’ve been to Hershey Park together. Somehow it seems her schedule got busy and I became pretty darn uncool.
The Brightly Colored Lights in the Tunnel of Life
One recent Saturday evening, the opportunity to take my little girl and her friend to a carnival presented itself. I haven’t been to a carnival in perhaps all of this little girl’s life.
It was admittedly an unsettling feeling to send the girls, both 16, on their own way at the carnival. But they certainly didn’t need (or want!) me by their sides. And so I handed them cash and away they went.
It was a small carnival in a small town. So small in fact that the town is called Littlestown. I did wait as they got in line for a ride and then stood by as they rode it. I couldn’t really see their faces as the ride moved so fast. The next ride was the swings which I also decided to watch them on.
As the ride started moving, my daughter’s smile grew more and more. Perhaps it was around her 8th time around that her smile struck a chord in my heart that sent me straight back to many years prior.
Suddenly I found myself at Hershey Park, watching that very smile go round and round so many times on so many summer nights for so many years. Waving excitedly at each other, smiling so happily at one another, loving how she would always seek me out in the crowds of people. Ten years of memories of that exact smile, going in circles, making me so happy I could cry each and every time I saw it. My heart smiled the biggest smile and I shook my head in a happy state of disbelief of all the beautiful memories I have of nearly this exact scenario of this beautiful girl going round and round and smiling at me. My eyes teared up. Then, in the quick blink of an eye, I was looking at my little girl transformed into a beautiful young lady, still seeking me out.. and still smiling back at me.
My heart is full, my life is blessed, and my daughter… to me, she is everything that is amazing, magical, and beautiful beyond words.
Listening to In My Daughter’s Eyes by Martina McBride
