Scrapbook lesson #2 from a 7-year-old

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Have you ever as an adult tried to let your hair grow long?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried it many times and it nearly drives me to the edge of insanity (and I don’t have far to go people!).  When it gets the point where it’s LONGER but not LONG ENOUGH and you can’t do ANYTHING with it and you just want to chop it all off right now?  Ever been to that point?  Well, I have many times…..(which is why I have semi-short hair right now!)

But this kid…..this beautiful creature daughter of mine…..she’s 7 years old and she’s amazing (most of the time).  She is an inspiration to me.  Last year in August 2006 she entered a local fair’s ponytail contest.  And while she DID get her picture and info put in the local newspaper (totally cool!), she didn’t even PLACE in the contest.  The girl who got 3rd place?  Her hair was still like 3 inches longer than Summer’s ponytail.  So Summer was devastated.  She didn’t care about winning, just wanted to get 3rd place.  So she decided to wait………

And she waited…..for an entire year.  She refused to let me make her an appointment for a haircut until that fair and that ponytail contest came around again.  She was determined to let that hair grow, and it did of course, so that she could at least get 3rd place in 2007.  Now mind you, this kid whines and screams every single morning when her hair is brushed because it hurts, we pull it when we’re brushing, etc.  I swear, her hair literally ties itself into knots when she’s sleeping at night.  Knots, I tell you!  It’s crazy.  So for the last year she’s been suffering the brushing every morning and I’ve been telling her, “You know, if you’d just cut the curls off the bottom it would be easier to brush.”  But she was not going to be deterred from her goal.  And I admire her for that and am inspired by that.  She had a goal and she stuck to it.  No matter what. 

Edited to add:  I can’t believe I’m such an idiot I forgot to mention that THIS year Summer got 3RD PLACE.  Her ponytail was 24-7/8 inches long.  The look of surprise on her face when they called her name was so priceless I almost cried!

So my daughter is scheduled for her haircut next week.  She decided without any urging from me that she wanted to cut off A LOT of her hair and donate it to Locks of Love.  I can’t describe to you the feeling of pride that this instills in me.  I have tried so hard to teach my child to care for other people and to have kindness and giving in her heart.  A lot of times I don’t see it in her, like when her younger cousin is here and she doesn’t want her to touch her toys!  When she doesn’t want to share or play with younger kids.  (What is up with that?)  But this gesture shows it.  She’s not even nervous or worried about the fact that all that hair she took so long to grow is going to be gone.  I, on the other hand, am going to quietly sob when she’s not looking (you think I’m kidding?).  I feel like it’s going to change her somehow, she’ll be different, she’ll be older or something.  I don’t know. 

I think about how sometimes I have goals, (um…like every single day), and they don’t get reached.  Things on my lists don’t get done.  And I have multiple lists!  Multiple projects!  I lack the motivation she had.  But watching her day after day I’ve learned something when it comes to my scrapbooking and my projects.  I don’t HAVE to get a project done right now all in one day.  I can just steadily plod along day after day and work on them little by little until I reach my goal.  I’ve got all these ideas for little mini books, but I don’t pull out my supplies and photos for them because I don’t have time to finish the book in one sitting.  So what?  From now on, I’m gonna do it anyway!  I’m gonna pull out my stuff and I’m gonna work on a mini book 1 day at a time until it’s finished.  Then I’m gonna do another one!  And I know it will make me so happy because I want them done so badly.  The unfinished-ness bothers the hell out of me.  I want to display them.  I want to look at them and enjoy them.  That’s WHY I scrapbook!  That’s why you scrapbook, right?  To look at them! 

So who’s with me on getting to a goal today?  Let’s do it!