A Mighty Spirit

Taylor went to the prom on Saturday night. Sigh...when did she become this person? I spent about 2 hours with my hands in her hair and was thankful that she appreciated it and was happy with the results. This chore also got me out of some of the chicken house work which I was not ashamed to admit I was happy about. 

The process of getting a woman ready for a formal event is quite a production. Thankfully, we don't have that many formal events in our neck of the woods which keeps these affairs far from routine. We don't even get too fussy in our preparations for Sunday school. We keep it pretty simple around here, at least as far as our attire goes. So, getting to play dress-up with Taylor for a few hours was quite fun and indulgent. 

I have always admired Taylor's flamboyance. She has a remarkable ability to balance feminism and strength, pretension and power, elegance and backbone. There is no questioning how beautiful she is, all she has to do is smile and the room lights up. The most enchanting thing about Taylor, is her spirit. I've never been around anybody's spirit with which I feel more attuned. She carries it in such a way that it is almost visible to the world. So bold, so brave, so unashamed. 

I remember when I realized that she was completely different from me, the first time she expressed her own opinion with such force and tact that I couldn't even begin to argue with her. This occurred soon after she had the ability to speak. It was almost a bit shocking but quite admirable. One thing my mother told me when Taylor was just a little bitty thing was, "don't ever do anything to break her spirit". So, I have very carefully thought through every discipline I've ever had to place upon Taylor, asking myself, "is this going to break her spirit?" Thankfully, there have been very few times that she has ever needed stern discipline because she is harder on herself than I ever could be. Taylor gets a lot of her gumption from her Granna. My prayer for her is that she is always this strong. As careful as I have been in my endeavor not to break her spirit, I pray that no one will be so flagrant as to try and wound her. I'm afraid they would soon be picking themselves up off the ground, dusting off their knees and saying, "what hit me?"