I tiptoed into your room tonight and I looked at you smiling in your sleep - and you were so lovely my heart nearly broke..... And I thought to myself, how very much like Sleeping Beauty a little girl is.

When I tuck you in at night I never quite know how old you're going to be when you wake up.

One evening you crawl into your Mom's lap and you throw your precious little arms around her neck, And next morning you may be much too grown up for that sort of thing. You're so quickly approaching the awkward age.....too young to drive the car..... and yet to old to be carried into the house half asleep on Mommy’s shoulder.

I have a secret I never told you Sleeping Beauty. You're going on an exciting trip. You'll travel from yesterday all the way to tomorrow. It's a rapid journey, and you'll travel light - leaving behind you; your measles, mumps, freckles, bumps, bubble gum......... and me! And I promise you I won't feel hurt when you discover the world's a little more interesting than your Mom's lap.

Yesterday you were blue-jeaned and pigtailed - the neighborhood's best tree climber. Tomorrow you'll be blue organdy and pony tailed - and you'll view the world from a loftier perch, a pair of high-heeled shoes.

Yesterday you could mend your broken doll's broken leg with a hug. Tomorrow you'll be able to break a boy's heart with a kiss. Yesterday you could get lost one isle away from me in the supermarket. Now I have to worry about losing you down another isle to a handsome young man.

Sleeping Beauty, when you grow up and out of my arms - when you finally get too big for my blouses, I'll still recall how you used to scatter dust and dolls through every room in the house. But you spread a lot of sunshine too. Of course the dust has settled, and your Mom has long since picked up the dolls......but that sunshine will always fill the corners of my heart.

So - here I am talking in your sleep......'cause if you saw this look on my face you'd laugh. And if I spoke with this lump in my throat - I'd cry. Yes daughter, when I looked at you tonight, you were a Sleeping Beauty. So I tiptoed over and I kissed you. You didn't wake up - and I knew you wouldn't - 'cause according to legend only the handsome young prince can open your eyes and I'm only the Mother of the future bride.

So slumber on my lovely. Tomorrow when you wake up you'll be a young lady, and you won't even realize you've changed courses......in the middle of a dream. But you just might notice a little change in your Mom. I'll look a bit different somehow. A little sadder, a little wiser, but a whole lot richer!

Tonight - I kissed a princess.
AND I FEEL LIKE A QUEEN!

© Bonnie Geddes