influential.
Back in May we had your baby dedication.
It hit me during the service just how influential your daddy and I will be in your life.
You will hear how we speak.
To you, to each other, about other people.
You will see how to act.
With love or disrespect. With a willing heart or begrudgingly.
You will learn where to find your purpose and worth in this life based on where we find our purpose and where we search for worth.
I want to influence you to live big. To love well. To find joy in all things. To confidently be who you are designed to be.
I read this recently and it set in again, how mindful I have to be of the influence I will have in your life.
The author writes this about her dad:
"I think people like him because his default setting is open delight. He's prepared to be wowed - by your humor, your smarts, your white smile, even your handshake - guaranteed, something you do is going to thrill him. Something is going to make him shake his head afterward, in disbelief, and say to me, "Lovey, what a guy!" or "Lovey, isn't she terrific?" People walk away from him feeling like they're on their game, even if they suspect that he put them there.
He does that for me too. He makes me feel smart, funny, and beautiful, which has become the job of the few men who have loved me since. He told me once that I was a great talker. And so I was. I was a conversationalist, along with creative, a notion he put in my head when I was in grade school and used to make huge, intricate collages from his old magazines. He defined me first, as parents do. Those early characterizations can become the shimmering self-image we embrace or the limited, stifling perception we rail against for a lifetime. In my case, he sees me as I would like to be seen. In fact, I'm not even sure what's true about me, since I have always chosen to believe his version."
- The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
I want to put you "on your game".
I want to make you feel smart, funny and handsome.
I want to influence you well.
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