Prayer for My Daughter On Her 16th Birthday

By Erin

Birthday Prayer for my 16 year old daughter---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Dear Daughter,

All the world is lining up to tell us that there’s nothing in the world scarier than a sixteen year old daughter. With your bright smile, warm wit, big heart, and stellar brain,  we couldn’t agree more.  How on earth we created you is a far easier question to answer than how on earth we could possibly contain you!

Your heart and head are full of wild imaginings of adventures far beyond our little home now. While we applaud your desire not to live in our basement for all eternity, you might need some blessings for what lies ahead.

So here’s blessings for a life well-lived. May you turn over all the rocks, climb all the mountains, and ford every stream your heart can take. But more importantly, may you find something that lights you on fire and keeps you burning. We love the funny Vines and Internet jokes too, but these are not the things that will feed your soul, my girl.  Cast your net far and wide and see what looks interesting.  May the interesting things also come with sizable paychecks and lovely bonus packages as well.

But it’s not all about the Benjamins. May you make new friends but keep the old. I might have taken this one from a box of Thin Mints, but you could do worse than have this one grace in your life.  Friends multiply every other blessing ten-fold. Be kind and generous with yours so they’ll stick around long enough to tell you that chic haircut doesn’t really work on you. Then you’ll also see them love on your babies, nurse you through heartbreaks, and make you laugh enough that you’ll count it as a workout. They’ll smooth the edges of your life’s journey and for that we will all be grateful.

And speaking of journeys, may all your roads be free—of ice, snow, hail, wind, any weather at all, catastrophe, bad drivers, good drivers, any other drivers whatsoever, and mistakes. I’d love to throw tolls in the mix, but the government’s involved so that might be hard to arrange. In any case, here’s to safe passages for you for all ways on all paths, everywhere, forever. Amen.

But here’s wishing you some rocky roads too.  Your journeys can certainly be a little crooked and not exactly what you had planned all the time. A lot of really great living happens off the beaten path, so while you shouldn’t dismiss the easy path altogether, be open to life’s detours. Sometimes, your head doesn’t always know where your heart was meant to be. Plan ahead, but let life do a little leading too.

When life is leading, may you be strong. Reach in and reach out before you reach your breaking point. The steely stuff within you and the loving hearts around you will be more than sufficient to see you through anything you might encounter. Remind yourself that when you are looking back on this moment in the rear view mirror, this will be the time you were most fully yourself and saw all your blessings before you.Birthday Prayer for my 16 year old daughter---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

And speaking of seeing things clearly, this is probably the perfect time to adjust your lens on that wanderlust of yours.  A lot of life traveling, any traveling, is, well, boring. It’s not all sweeping vistas and magnificent sunsets, so learn to rock a camera angle. Most of life is just how you look at it anyway, so learn to frame the shot the way you want to.

And as you are looking for that perfect shot, may you also find a great partner for the road. Not just someone who could be a stellar shotgun, although that is a pretty great bonus, but someone who really sees you in all your beautiful and flawed perfectness. You could do worse than marry someone who is your best friend though that’s certainly not a requirement for the job. But loving your family is non-negotiable so make that one fact clear: we’re awesome and part of the package deal. You want the gorgeous redhead, you get the crazy family too, capice?

This is your moment, sweet girl. We are mesmerized, enchanted, and, quite frankly, perched on the edge of our seats waiting to see what will happen in this next chapter of your life.  Write something amazing.

All my love, Mom

 You can see what I wrote about my funny feisty girl last year here. Parents of lunatic toddlers, this one’s for you! There is hope!

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