welcome 2016
Every New Year's Day for the past five years, Eleanor and I have a little fun as she wears this shirt. I found it back when she was six months old, two months after her open-heart surgery.
It captured my deepest prayer in a little sign held by a little yellow bird I'd loved since childhood.
As I put this shirt over her head on January 1, 2011, I was whispering inside, "Please protect her. Please let there be more love. Please let it be softer. Please let her be okay. Please keep her heart safe."
And I was hoping 2011 would be a gentler year for all of us, a year where she would be able to just live as a healthy little girl finding her way into toddlerhood.
Over the years, this shirt has begun to symbolize those prayers we whisper over the ones we love. The hopes we have for them, for ourselves, for the world.
And this prayer for her, for us, for you that I hold in my heart each January 1st is the reason behind the This Is My Year manifesto and package.
I wanted to wrap up all those prayers and possibility and send them to you in your corner of the world.
Because the truth is, I really want this little girl to live in a world where more people are pausing and noticing and choosing love when they look in the mirror, when they listen to their loved ones, when they look into a stranger's eyes.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
This little shirt is a special companion for us over here. And today, I'm whispering another prayer as I look through these photos of a little girl just being herself and feeling deeply loved.
May it always be so.
May it always be so.
(You can see the photos from previous years right here.)
And yes, it is a little miracle that it still "fits." One day it won't and I'll use my sewing skills and create a new one from this one. But for now, over the head it (still) goes.
life with EJ
Reader Comments (4)
Simply beautiful and so awesome it still fits her.
I love this post every year -- love it, love it, love it!;)
Amazing! Wow! Love it!
This is amazing, I have come over from Ali Edwards blog and by chance I thought I would have a look at the link not knowing where it would lead me. I was totally surprised to see this post about this tee shirt that you have your beautiful daughter wear each New Year. I too have similar tee shirts for my three boys, they are Christmas ones (all the same) that they have worn every Christmas eve since they were 2, 3 and 4. Now they are 9,10 and 11, I too have to have them remade into something larger to continue the tradition. It is so nice to go back on the photos to see how much they have grown. Blessings to you and your family, thank you for what/whoever that lead me here. With warms regards Brenda ( Melbourne, Australia)