Life Letters | Guest Post by Kathryn

Today, I’m so excited to have Kathryn @ Our Tiny Big Life guest posting for me! I initially met Kathryn through her photography linkups and posts (the girls got some mad skill, by the way), but was drawn in by her writing and her style with words. I’m sure you guys will see what I’m talking about. Make sure you read the post and then head over to tell her hello!

My seven year old has been teaching me about life for seven years. She has a knack for it. She knows how to embrace it. I, on the other hand, have a knack for white-knuckling it to death. For her, life is an adventure, an opportunity and a gift.

See the pic below? That’s what I’m talking about. She just goes with it.

She’s inspired and inspiring. And I can always use a little more inspiration. Maybe that’s why she ends up in so many of my photographs (besides the fact that she’s just generally more accommodating in front of the camera than her sister). When her sister inspires me, it’s because at nine years old, she uses words like beckon in everyday conversation.

“Mom, I beckoned the cat to come out from under the bed. And, he did!”

I suspect it has something to do with her passionate affection for British children’s lit {uh, Harry Potter}.

When my husband and I traveled to Hawaii four years ago for our seven-years-in-the-waiting honeymoon, I was genuinely afraid for the first time of being away from my girls, my living, breathing, giggling inspirations. There was a very real sense that “anything could happen” and “what if?”

What and if are two very bad words for a white-knuckler.

So, I wrote my sweets a letter. My husband thought it was morbid to write a “just in case” letter, but I was compelled. I wanted them to know certain things, and I think in many ways I was writing more to the women they’ll be at 25 than the girls they were at 2 and 5. I was writing the letter I wished someone had written me.

As it turns out, the trip was beyond incredible and we made it home safe and sound and a little more tan. But, I’ve kept the letter. My girls will read it one day.

What I wrote then is still true now and will be when they’re big enough to share wardrobes and makeup tips with me.

If I have a message for them, it’s this: grabbing life in a strangle hold is not the way to go.

Breathe deep. Release. Strive less and smile more.

And I want them to feel and believe that the ins and outs of my days mothering them have been and will be steps—albeit not always sure and steady ones—on a road closer to sanity and a heart made whole by gratitude.

The amazing thing about learning to let go, and as I’ve once heard, “let my heart go walking around outside my body,” is that these two beautiful ladies-in-the-making have taken this tightly wound mama in their tiny hands and allowed her to walk with them into joy. I believe that’s why they are called a heritage and reward and why Jesus told us we could all stand to be more like children.

I can’t imagine anything better than their laughter and silliness and expansive vocabularies. I don’t want to. If I’m grabbing anything lately, it’s that camera. Trying to capture it all, and count my blessings with shutter snaps.

Make sure to go visit Kathryn and see some more photos of her beautiful daughters! Don’t they look like here in the picture above? Those fierce blue eyes?

Thanks Kathryn for taking the time to visit my “space” here in bloggy land and offer up some beautiful inspiration!

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