Today as I watched your rite of passage
Amidst the pomp, the tradition and pride
I was seized by the hand of nostaligia
And I saw your life in my mind slide by slide.

The day you were born, your first pair of shoes,
Oscar the Grouch,
The terrrible twos.
Your first day of school,
Your last day at home,
Your childish laughter,
Your teenage moans.

I thought of the way you look at the world,
From your first day of life it seems,
As a puzzle to solve, a dare to accept,
And a place to manifest dreams.

I remembered the closeness when I was your world
And I remembered you breaking away.
When your child-like sweetness could not mitigate
The fear of battles we fought night and day.

There were long days when I did not recognize
The child I'd born into this world.
Days when the only communication we shared
Were dirty looks and ugly words.

But eventually out of that adolescent anger
I saw a young woman begin to take form.
It was like watching a beautiful rainbow appear
At the end of a violent storm.

And before long I realized,
In a sort of epiphany,
That this newly emerging young woman
Had important lessons to teach me.

And as I watched you go after your life
Willing to walk through your fear.
I began to see the world differently
And the illusions I held became clear.

Your taught me that life is not about safety;
Not about warding off fear.
That we can not live our lives fully
Without shedding some well earned tears.

You taught me the value of taking risks;
The value of reaching for stars.
That the rewards of knowing we tried
Are worth the worst of battle scars.

I learned from you that joy and delight
Can reside in things I thought mundane.
And that if we look we can even find them
side by side with heartache and pain.

So, on this day, your rite of passage.
As I remember your life slide by slide,
As I celebrate you in adulthood,
And my heart is brimming with pride,

I want you to know that not a day passes by
When I don't celebrate you and your style.
And there isn't a day I'm not grateful to God
For his gift of you, my cherished child.