Flashback Friday -- "This is who I am"

Oh Grace.  It's been way over a month now, but I've been meaning to do a flashback on Grace ever since her birthday {way back in November}.  And since it's better late than never, I figured now is as good a time as any to do a flashback for my firstborn daughter...

At the very end of October, I tried to capitalize on the dual birthday photo shoot I was already doing for Alex and Jane and convinced Grace to jump in on the action as well.  I was trying to put together a package with pictures to send to my grandparents and wanted one of her that was a bit more current than her baptism photo from a year ago.  While snapping away with the little ones, I called over my shoulder for her to go and change into a nicer looking outfit and brush her hair so she'd look decent in the picture I was going to take.

She argued back and forth with me that she didn't want to go and change and that what she was wearing was FINE.  {Think gym shorts and a messy T-shirt.  And a rat's nest of a ponytail for her hair.}  I was fully planning on forcing her to change into something else when she stopped me dead in my tracks with the most profound statement I've ever heard from her.  "This is who I am," she said.  "I'm not fancy."  She said it so earnestly and with such conviction that it really gave me pause.


Think about it -- how well do you know who YOU are?  And how long did it take you to figure that out?  In some ways, I sometimes feel like I'm still trying to figure out who I am.  Not Grace.  She is a one-of-a-kind kind of girl.  Our ever-surprising surprise.  A tender-hearted, super sensitive, and independent spirit.  She knows who she is and she stays true to herself.  Always.  And while that can be frustrating as all get-out when she's brewing a tropical storm style meltdown, it is comforting to know that she will not be easily bent by the winds of conformity around her.  She does not care what anyone else thinks or does -- she alone chooses her path.  There is something inherently awe-inspiring about that. 

At the end of the day, I have faith in her.  And in the path she will ultimately choose. 

By the time I finished up with the little ones' photo shoot, Grace was ready for her own.  In true Grace form, she surprised me.  She didn't change into the exact clothing and hairstyle I wanted for the picture, but she did clean herself up, change into different clothes {still true to the essence of Grace} and ended up presenting to me the very best version of herself.  And as her mother, that's all I ever want.