“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day.
Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
– Lewis Carroll
A few years ago, this quote, attached to a magnet, arrived in my mailbox from one of my aunts. “This made me think of you,” the note read.
I’m a “What if” girl – as in “What if we don’t do things the way we have always done things just because it’s the way we’ve always done it?” and “What if we showed people what faith in Christ looked like instead of telling them what they should and shouldn’t be doing?”
My female offspring is proving to be following right along in my footsteps. Boy, oh boy, oh boy.
The girl can dream the wildest of dreams. She writes books and stories with vivid characters.
I have no idea where this comes from.
But I love her spirit, the one that lives in our reality only about ten percent of the time. Sometimes I have to invite her back to our world for a brief moment but most of the time, she’s inhabiting her own.
In a good way.
Today she bounded out of Kindergarten clutching a necklace made from a few beads and pasta threaded around a red piece of fuzzy yarn. “Mommy! I made you a necklace today!” she exclaimed while one of her slippers went flying the other direction. She giggled at her silliness.
The pasta necklace adorned my neck for the rest of the day and when I took it off, it occurred to me that there will come a day when she no longer makes me pasta necklaces at school. She will no longer fingerpaint, no longer perform plays for stuffed animals. She will forget what it’s like to pretend the day away and may grow self-conscious of the sequined dance costume she insists on wearing with bunny ears on her head.
“I don’t really do the princess thing anymore, Mommy” she replied when I asked her if she wanted to take a fluffy pink dress to Disney World. My heart crumbled.
But I’m praying she will still think of at least six impossible things before breakfast each day.
I’m linking up with Michelle from Lost in the Prairies and Rachel Ann from Home Sanctuary’s “Company Girls”…
May your weekend be blessed with impossibly good things…
What a precious thing to still believe in the impossible. After all, what is impossible with man is possible with God! She will lose some of her dreaminess as she gets older, but I think that free spirit will always be in her…that is what I have noticed as my children have grown!
Have a great weekend!
.-= Star´s last blog ..Coffee Talk 102910 =-.
Lovely post.
Oh, too cute! Yes, great quote!
Interesting that you have this post today. I feel like, well, God is asking me to pray for the impossible right now. I don’t even know what the impossible IS, but I do know that I am supposed to stop doing the same things just because I’ve always been doing the same things. Thanks for this!
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Its Still There =-.
Oh – I love that quote! It is such a tug on our mommy hearts to watch our sweet little ones grow! Each stage is so wonderful and we want them to go on forever (at least I do) but then we find the next stage fantastic as well…. They grow too quickly!
.-= Audra´s last blog ..Free Wheelchair Mission- Matching Gift Challenge =-.
I tear up just thinking of the time when I won’t have the pasta necklaces and handwritten notes around the house. I need to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy because princess abandonment isn’t far off.
.-= Amy Sullivan´s last blog ..Poor- Silly Farmer =-.
Savor what you can while you can! I look back at all of Kiersten’s “frilly-girly” stuff and so miss that stage. Yet, I am fully enjoying the “now.” I absolutely LOVE the Alice in Wonderland quote! I pray that my kids never lose that type of imagination and outlook on life. For that matter, I hope I have that…I want that! Beautifully written, Natalie.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..I Want to Go Home =-.
Loved the post, it kind of brings out the ‘what have I shoved to the side’? question in my head that I had dreamed about at one time and life just drowned it out. I just told my parents that unless your dead then you must keep dreaming and doing for Him because there would be no reason to be here on earth if we didn’t.
Oh hi, I’m Marlece, first time over and enjoyed reading several of your postings I look forward to reading more!
.-= marlece´s last blog ..blessed beyond! =-.
This is very sweet. she is beautiful. I am a grandma of three little girls ages 11 and twins who are six. When they come over they cut out old magazines and make posters or books or catalogs or whatever they imagine. I have notes all over my house ‘lemonade 5 cents… popcorn 2 pieces for 5 cents… gold fish crackers 5 for 5 cents’… with drawings to match. I have a ‘picture’ the 11 year old made for the bathroom door and it has a bow…stuck on it and she wrote…(you are as pretty as a picture). I keep these things hung up… some on my patio doors, some on the original spots they put them. Because they are important. TIME will fly by and someday they will no longer wish to cut out and imagine. Grandma’s house is not mommy’s where duties and tasks must be done and things must stay ordered. Grandma’s house is a place for memories, for fun and relaxing.
Just thought I would share I love the imagination of little princesses. (oh I also have three grandsons too)
Oh, I just love that quote…..I wish I could go back to that attitude…enjoy your little one while you can…..I wish I could get a pasta necklace instead of the list of wabts that I usually get…..maybe tomorrow I can try the impossible!
oh my..that’s list of wants….
.-= Marie´s last blog ..Goings on =-.
That growing up thing… it truly is bittersweet.
.-= C @ Kid Things´s last blog ..On Finally Asking for Help =-.
What a great quote! And what a great girl you have. Growing up…I miss those earlier days…
.-= Joyce´s last blog ..Our Week in Photos Week 44 of 52 =-.
My heart is just smiling and crying all at the same time. I’m a what if girl too. Hold on to this time and treasure every pasta necklace she gives you. I’m at the stage where were looking into the tween years and I’m now starting to read anything I can get my hands on to get us safely through this time period.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..HAPPY REFORMATION DAY! =-.
That last pic is KILLING me. She is SO you! AH!