In Mountain and Meadow - Life
Amy
Like a turtle can fly, or a rock can swim, is how well my advice to my eighteen year old daughter is received. But even so, I feel like it is my duty to try to tell her a few things before she goes to college next week. Things like:
"Your number one job is to pass your classes; everything else is secondary."
"Don't drink too much; Bad things happen when people drink too much."
And about a career:
"The happiest people are not the ones that make the most money. They are the ones that have learned to live within what they have, and enjoy life as it comes."
She will have to learn her own lessons, like we all do. The most I can expect is that my words are a seed, that she can think about, that maybe someday she might realize was good advice.
My hopes and prayers are that she will do well, and I believe she will. I told her that as long as I am around, she always has a home to go to, and me and Ben and Maggie (border collies) will be thrilled to see her.
As a Dad I know I did one thing very right, and that is I gave her my time, not only when she was young, but also during the tough teenage years when she needed it just as much.
And Amy showed incredible strength to overcome adversity during those teen years, and continue on with her life.
Yeah, my camping buddy is heading off to college, the little girl that used to follow behind Dad and his dogs, searching forests for Calypso orchids to photograph. One of my favorite pictures of her is when she was barely six, on a weekend morning up high in the mountains, chin resting on her hands, looking down at a heart leaf Arnica.
pretty soon, he'll be gone
and he's got one good song to sing
but like my daddy said,
it's in your heart, not your head
and you got to sing and sing and sing
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, from "It'l Shine When It Shines"
