When The Apple Falls Far

When I was a child I was painfully shy. I wouldn't go anywhere without my mom. She even had to sit in with me for Sunday School classes until I was five or six. When our daughter was young she seemed to be the same way and to some degree she is still very attached. However, she is much more outgoing than I ever was and I am thankful for that. She seems to have acquired my husband's comfortable social demeanor.

It started with the dance class she was enrolled in. I would have rather died than stand up in front of hundreds of people and perform. I'd still rather die than do that. She gladly did it with not an ounce of self-consciousness. Oh, to be so brave. She goes to friends houses and her cousins house and while for most people this is probably oh so normal, I am regularly amazed simply because I would have never done that at her age. Never.

This week she is in VBS at my sister's church and next week she'll attend VBS at our church. Every day this week I have walked her in, said goodbye, and left. She could have cared less, except for the one day her cousin wasn't there yet and she wanted me to wait. Today, we were running a little later than usual and I pulled in just as her friends and cousins were arriving. I let her out of the car and off she went to walk in with them. She didn't even turn back until I yelled "goodbye" out the window. She was just too excited to be with her friends.

It is wonderful to watch her brimming with self-confidence. She is her own person: headstrong and at times frustrating. But when I see how independent she is and how she does her own thing with little concern whether others do it or will like it I am thrilled. I like that she challenges what doesn't make sense. I like that she isn't swayed or influenced by others. All that can be so frustrating now are qualities that I will be thankful she possess later...although I am already thankful now.

What are/were some of the traits your children possess/possessed that are/were so opposite from you?