We all have dreams, right? My daughter wants to audition for The Voice (as mentioned in a previous post). I look for ways to support her. I take heat sometimes because not everyone agrees with how we roll at my house. We travel whenever possible, and I try to give her every opportunity. I don’t want her to look back on these teen years and think I didn’t support her. I don’t want to be that mom. You know what I mean.

I caught myself going down the dream spoiler path two or three years ago. Bela was still receiving her Pony Packs. Each shipment included a magazine with some horse-related contests. Bela found the answer to one of the questions, mailed her reply and hoped her name would be drawn out of the bucket of correct answers. I tried to prepare her for not winning. I mentioned the odds—lots of kids got the Pony Packs, so I was sure there would be hundreds of correct answers. The prize was a horse clock that neighed on the hour. After my warnings about not getting her hopes up too high, she said, “Somebody’s going to win—why not me?” I shut up and realized what I had done. I wanted to protect her from disappointment, but I could have killed her optimistic spirit. Yikes!

A few weeks later, Ysabela had mail—a box from Pony! Yep, you guessed it. Her entry was chosen for a clock! Every day the neighing reminds me to let her dream.