I can't believe she's three!

DeeDee turned three today. For days now she's been asking about her birthday. "Is my birthday here yet?" "Mommy, when is my birthday?" Other times she's told me she is already three years old in an effort to get packages. Then I told her that if she's already three, I missed her birthday and don't need to give her a party and presents. Oh, how she would back pedal then, insisting she was still two years old.

So, today she turned three. For a awhile she's told me she would like to play violin. I told her someday she would get to play. She was content with that - mostly. It was a dream of hers to play violin - a dream almost too big to dream.

This morning DeeDee woke up and found a few presents waiting for her; a couple dresses, a music player, a Bible song CD, a couple cards... she was happy with what she received. What she didn't know was the best was yet to come.

Mid-morning I loaded the kids into the van and headed south to a music store. On the way we listened to a story from Your Story Hour called Paul and the Violin. The point of the story was that it takes hard work to do anything well. DeeDee wasn't too interested in where we were going until Tony pointed out a violin painted on the side of the building. We walked in and went to the string counter.

At the string counter my normally talkative daughter suddenly turned very quiet and shy. It seemed as if her biggest dream - the dream too big to dream was coming true and she couldn't fathom or process it. The employee took a measuring stick to measure my daughter's arm length in order to find the correctly sized violin. Her eyes were wide with wonder as the worker brought down a size 1/32 violin and held it up to her, helping properly position her hand over the fingerboard.

Slowly a smile formed as she began to realize that this violin was for her - that this dream which was too big to dream was coming true.

Patiently the man worked with my daughter and answered my many questions as I know -er knew absolutely nothing about violins.

Finally, he set the instrument on the counter and left to find a suitable carrying case and a lesson book. After he left, (and with a customer waiting to be served) I knelt down so I was eye-to-eye with DeeDee, and told her, "Honey this is for you. Happy birthday." The thank-you I received was a moment I will treasure in my heart for as long as I love. My daughter gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen, threw her arms around me and gave me a hug that nearly knocked me to the floor.

A few minutes later we walked out with a thrilled DeeDee proudly holding her violin case.

Once we got home DeeDee, eagerly assisted by an equally excited Tony pulled the violin from its case and set about to learning how to play it.