When your daughter fits into your clothes...

There I have said it...

I have actually wanted to write about this for the past 4 months, but just don't have the discipline to put pen to paper, or as the case here, finger to keyboard.

What have I disclosed?

Hmmm...my daughter fits into my clothes!! (Picture me with a wry face!!)

How does that make me feel?
Proud, happy, awestruck
Bemused, sad, and a wee bit scared...

Whoa...I thought the first time it happened... is she that big?!!

Well, let me set the context here. My daughter learns Carnatic music and till 4 months back she was allowed to wear long skirts and tee for classes. I guess the long became too flowy and unwieldy and definitely distracting for some children, so the rule now is to wear kurtas/ salwar to class.

So she picked out her only kurta and legging and wore it for class. Then the next class came and the absent minded mother that I am, I had done nothing to enhance her wardrobe. So she started scouting....conveniently in my cupboard. 

Lo and behold she found a kurta that fit her, that was a little tight for me...and claimed it for herself. I smiled and admired her resourcefulness and indulgently let her go.

Yes, the thought that crossed my mind...Oh, is she that big? ( Or am I so diminutive?!!)

Folks, there is a slight issue here though...now inspite of getting her couple of kurtas more, I find her rummaging my cupboard before every class, just in case she can find something from my collection to her liking. 
Variety?
Hmmm...
More choice?
Hmmm...

Hey, now I can't find my kurtas and my matching leggings...in all probability it has wormed it's way into my daughter's cupboard...

So my daughter fits into my clothes and I allowed her to wear one of mine...
Look where it has landed me!!

Back in my days, all my Mother's wardrobe could offer me was her Sarees (all neatly starched and pressed and placed in individual plastic bags), that I had to ask permission before I could take them...for some event or function, and that too, much later when I was in High school...and even later when I went to College. 

So now that I have given access to my cupboard, I am sure I am going to find my Tees missing...maybe a jean or two (not yet, my posterior is way bigger than hers!)...my sweaters...my jackets...my ear rings, my jewelry....

I think I better drop the "MY" now!!

But when I rewind to watch videos of her first day with me...the puny baby legs, the scrunched up wrinkled face, the tiny fisted hands....and then turn around to watch her, watching me...the baby is my memory...
...she is a beautiful young woman, with a gently wicked sense of humor, a kind soul...who is big enough to fit into my clothes....

once again I am reminded of Khalil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, 

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 

and He bends you with His might 

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

                                        ~ unconditional love is the only purpose of life~

~ssstoryteller~