Lift up your head, Princess. If not, the crown falls.
I was told this once by a friend of mine as I was down & out about decisions I had made and whether or not I could ever pick myself up again. I’m not sure, but I think we all get that way from time to time, defeated, anguished, only seeing the bad and kicking ourselves to the point of self destruction. Although it proves to be pointless in the end, during the time we are going through it we simply can’t see it. So when my friend looked me in the eye and said those words, they stuck.
I’m not a princess, but I do wear a crown. I put my crown on every day when Anna wakes up and wants something for breakfast. That’s my breakfast crown. And when she leaves for school and then texts me that she forgot an important study sheet and needs it before first hour, I put on my I’ll get that to you’ crown. And when she comes home from school and excitedly tells me about her day and her tests and whatever else she did at school, that’s my ‘I’m listening to you and I’m so glad I’m home’ crown. And when she excitedly calls me even though I just left a few seconds ago to tell me she looked up her final exam scores and she did way better than she thought she would and I could hear the happiness through the phone, that’s my ‘Yay, she did it!’ crown. And when I get to work and the Mexican workers come up to me and smile and show me their nails that they painted in bright colors with the Piggy Polish I gave them and they can’t speak English and I can’t speak Spanish but we both have an unwritten acknowledgement and respect for each other, that’s my ‘pay it forward’ crown. And when I look at packaging and decide that I can make it better and more sustainable, that’s my ‘why not?’ crown. And when I realize all that I have accomplished and all that I have yet to accomplish, that’s my ‘I am the luckiest person in the world’ crown.
So when my friend told me to lift up my head Princess, if not the crown falls, she was right. I don’t want to lose my crown. And maybe, someday, I will realize that all along I really was a Princess. I mean, aren’t we all?
With love from Grand Haven,
Julie