A VIsit with Reindeer Girl

Every time I come to the blogosphere, I stare at the Reindeer Girl who graces my blog. She looks so darn innocent. I just want to put my arms around her and hug her. I'm torn between telling her to "run, baby, run and don't look back" and "hang on, for the ride of your life."

I know where the picture was taken, but I don't remember much of that girl's life back then. Her little sister was due to be born - her world about to change! No longer the baby, she was going to have to give up the title and pass it on down the line. She was going to have to fight for attention with three sisters, not 2. She was never much of a fighter, so she is going to have to kick up her cuteness a notch or two!

When I look at that Christmas tree I see several of the ornaments that used to make me say, "ahh" when the tattered, Kleenex they were wrapped in came off. There was glittery snow on them that sparkled in the light. Those ornaments, like so much of the past, is nothing but a memory. My mother gave me one after I got engaged. I wrapped it up and placed it in my hope chest. But when the cedar chest was delivered to my new "married" home, the ornament was in tiny glass pieces. An omen of what was to come? Or just the way of things - sometimes they break and can't be put back together.

I also see that someone, probably my mother, painstakingly strung popcorn to lace around the tree. I wonder if that is the first and only time it was done. I seriously don't remember ever having popcorn on our family tree, until I was the one doing the stringing.

On the radio the other day, Carol asked me what I wanted to say to my father. I wonder if I could, what would I say to Reindeer Girl. I think I'd tell her that she's strong even if she doesn't feel like it. She's beautiful even if she doesn't believe it. That she is loved beyond measure, even when she makes mistakes, feels unlovable, or feels sad. I'd tell her that, like the Christmas baby, she was born for a reason - to shine light in a dark world.

Keep shining Reindeer Girl, I'm proud of you, of who you've become and who you are yet to be. You are not alone. You matter.

Wishing for you a moment's reflection with your inner child,

Merry ME