Dear daughter, i tiptoed in your room tonight and i looked down at
you smilinand' in your sleep. you were so lovely my heart nearly broke;
and i thought how much like sleeping beauty a little girl is. when i
tuck you in at night i never know how old youand'll be when you wake. one
evening you crawl on your dadand's lap and throw your arms around his neck,
the next morning you might be much too grown up for that sort of thing.
youand're so quickly approaching the awkward age, too young to drive the
car and yet too old to be carried in the house half asleep on daddyand's
shoulder. i have a secret that iand've never told you, sleeping beauty,
youand're going on a very exciting trip. youand'll travel from yesterday all
the way to tomorrow. itand's a rapid journey and youand'll travel light,
leaving behind you - measles, mumps, freckles, bumps, bubble gum and me.
i promise not to feel too hurt when you discover that the world is more
important than your daddyand's lap. yesterday you were blue jeans and pig tails,
the neighborhoodand's best tree climber. tomorrow youand'll be blue organdy and
pony tails and youand'll view the world from a loftier perch - a pair of high
heel shoes.
yesterday you could mend a dolland's broken leg with a hug; tomorrow youand'll
be able to break a young manand's heart with a kiss. humh! humh! yesterday you
could get lost one aisle away from me at a supermarket - now i have to worry
about losing you down another aisle to some strange young man. you see,
just at the point where youand're growing pains stop, mine begins. yesterday
you were kind of a pain in the neck when you were around, tomorrow youand'll
be an ache in my heart when your not.
tomorrow youand'll lay aside your jump rope and tie up the telephone lines
and that little boy that used to push you in the mud; well, heand'll fight to
sit out a dance with you. the clock is countinand' the minutes for you and the
sky upstairs is savinand' itsand' brighest stars; - and the sun is waitinand' with
itsand' shiniest day.
oh i, i canand't expect you to live in a doll house forever. sooner or later,
the butterfly sheds itand's cocoon and the smallest bird must try its wings.
but when you grow up and out of my arms; when you finally get too big for my
shirts, iand'll still recall how you used to scatter dust and dolls and partially
through evand'ry room in the house; but you spread sunshine too. the dust is
settled, your mom picked up the dolls; - but the sunshine will always fill
the corners of our hearts.
so, here i am talking in your sleep, because, well if you saw this look on
my face, youand'd laugh and if i spoke with this lump in my throat, iand'd cry.
yea! honey when i looked at you tonight you were a sleeping beauty. so, i
tiptoed over and i kissed you - you didnand't wake up, i knew you wouldnand't.
according to the legend only the handsome young prince can open your eyes
and iand'm just the father of the future bride.
so you sleep on pretty thing, tomorrow youand'll wake and youand'll be a young
lady and you wonand't even realize that youand've changed courses in the middle
of a dream. but you might notice a little change in me; iand'll look a little
different somehow. a little sadder, a little wiser, but a whole lot richer.
tonight, i kissed a princess and i feel like a king.
