The Rest Of The Story

Sunday, Nicole asked me when I was going to blog about her dance. I considered inviting her to be a guest blogger to let her share all about it in her own words- since I was just an observer. But then I understood what she was really asking. It wasn't that she wanted her first dance documented in a blog, it was that she wanted to have someone else tell the story....

It reminds me of something my friend told me around 10 years ago about her then 12-year-old son. My friend is an avid scrapbooker and her son was looking through his recently caught up scrapbook. As he came to the last page, he looked at his mom and asked, "Where's the rest?" My friend was puzzled. He knew she had put the most recent event that they had pictures for in his scrapbook. What did he mean by, where's the rest?

She patiently explained to him that that was it. That she had no other pictures to put in. Nothing else had happened.

A frown came over his face. "I want to know what happens next. What the rest of my life will be like."
I think it's true for all of us. We want someone else to write our story. Tell us what happens next. Sometimes I think that would be nice. But on second thought, it's nice to be the one who gets to decide what and with whom we spend the time we have on this earth.
As for Nicole, I don't think she could have chosen a nicer young man to share her first dance experience with. Kevin is her best friend. She is comfortable with him. She can be herself. And looking back on my first dance, I was anything but comfortable or myself. I was a nervous mess.
She had a wonderful, memorable evening. She left with an excited smile and came home laughing, her face beaming from the good time she had shared with her friends.

There will be many more dances to write about, I'm sure. This one was a success- a great start to her high school experience. As for me, I haven't quite gotten over the fact that she is old enough to be doing these things. But here we are and I am thrilled that I get to watch as she writes the story of her life.