Once upon a
Far away
I will have a child.

A beautiful girl with her father’s eyes
And soft reddish curls

Her eyes will mirror the world
And I will make her see
That only she can make it better

I will sing her to sleep
But not only traditional songs
No
She will deserve the most beautiful songs I know
Like Imagine and Golden slumbers
And I will never stop singing
Not like my mother did

As she gets older I will teach her to walk
And to never be afraid of the dark
To be friends with the monsters underneath her bed

I will hold her through her nightmares
And tell her to never let go of her dreams
If she wants to be a princess or a knight
Then I will tell her she has to fight
For no goal is reached without effort

I will let her run barefoot in the grass
And let her learn to live with the bruises
I will tend to them of course but she has to see
That sometimes you have to get hurt

I will let her climb over the fence
And try out the other side
Before I call her back and tell her
To never do that without permission again

She will pick me flowers
And probably some weeds
And I will accept them all with gratitude
Even if she ruins my begonias
Because giving is just as good as receiving

I will read her Peter Pan
And she will love him
Just as many girls before has done
And if she asks me to keep her window open I will
But not enough for her to fly out through
Because if Peter wants her to fly he will open it fully for her

She will start school
And she will be incredibly nervous
And then she will come home and tell me what they did
Every day
For the first four years

In October we will curl up with a blanket in the evenings
And I will read Harry Potter aloud
She will be entranced
Just like I was
And even if she might only let me read the first book before reading them herself
I know she will do the same to her child

Then as her friends become more important
She will forget to tell me how her day went
Unless I ask
But she will still ask me for help
With her homework

Then when she gets older she will realize
How much I really mean to her
That soon she will be out of here
And sometimes that’s a scary thought

And even though this is the time
When she needs to break free
This is also the time when she needs me the most
Because no teenage daughter is ever complete
Without a parent to say goodbye to

And I will watch her as she goes
I will answer her phonecalls and hug her when she comes back home
I will miss her
But would never shut the door in her face

For I know how it’s like to be that girl

Who needs her mother now more than ever
But at the same time needs to soar