I have a sixteen year old daughter. She is charming and funny and infuriating and sweet and diabolical and kind – often all at the same time. I spend a lot of time thinking about her. I think about how to relate to her. I think about how to protect her. I think about how to teach her. It’s relatively easy to think about things I can do to help her grow into her best self. What’s infinitely harder, is contemplating giving her space to make mistakes and learn from them on her own. Stepping back and letting her succeed or fail without any intervention from me is agonizing.
Today, Chuck and I found a tiny fawn curled up in the grass. Its mother was nowhere to be seen. It looked so vulnerable there, alone. But I know the mother was not far away. I know she left her baby so it could grow stronger without the threat of predators that might be drawn to her scent. I know she will come back to it. It is not abandoned. It is following the natural course of things.
I realized, if the doe can leave her weak little fawn for its own good, I can do the same for Grace. I can give her time and space to get her feet under her. It’s funny that something so instinctual for an animal mom is so difficult for a human one. I’ll have to work harder at being a doe.
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