Daffodils stand at attention in perfect rows, their yellow faces saluting the sun.  Branches sway windy, waving pink fairy dust as I breathe the beauty of what blurs past my windshield. New life pops confetti on bare branches and today, I let go of my daughter’s hand. Watch her dance the last stanzas of childhood in this circle of life we share.  

She turns sixteen today. A day she begins to collect her own packet of seeds to scatter. (Mark 4)

Because aren’t we all farmers of what he gives?

Yesterday I squeezed her dimpled knuckles.  Today, wearing wet hair and tall boots, she drives away in her white Volvo with cardboard owl swinging from the mirror, pop music vibrating.

Later, in the quiet empty, I wipe off the syrup pitcher, put her dirty dishes in the sink, notice the pile of cards holding checks from friends stacked neatly beside her place at the bar. Pieces of hope paper stacked for the promise of a mission trip to Jamaica.

Sixteen years ago, H caught me standing in the closet sobbing . . . . .

Can you kindly follow me over to Kim’s place at Journey to Epiphany to finish the story? I am guest posting with the Painting Prose community today.

Come and join us!