Hey! What's up y'all! Taurus, here, of TaurusBeats.com. I just want to say "what's up" to everybody.
I'm going to plug, real quickly, a song that I've got coming out on my latest moody instrumental music collection. The new collection is called "Moody Grooves" and it is going to be posted on TaurusBeats.com. I'll have some more videos from this collection on YouTube. I really hope that you enjoy it. It will be out later this month. But that's not the topic of this video!
I'm speaking to those of you who happen to be fathers. This weekend, I had the opportunity to take my daughter on a camping trip. The camp is called Camp Classen and it is right here in Oklahoma. The trip is sponsored by Adventure Guides through our local YMCA (Edmond YMCA).
The big thing about it, for me, was that it was the first time for us to go on a father-daughter camping trip. So, we get there and we have a wonderful time participating in so many different activities. We met great people. Man, I'm telling you, it was just a big deal, a huge deal for me and for my daughter. We spent so much time together just loving the outdoors. We went fishing! I'm a big fisherman - a huge fisherman. I love to fish! And to see my daughter go out and catch some fish and just to see her excitement about it all, that's pretty awesome. You can't replace that with anything.
But that wasn't the biggest thing for me. The biggest thing for me was the horseback riding. We had a day, Saturday morning, to go horseback riding. It was my first time horseback riding and it was my daughter's first time as well. My daughter, Tamilyn, is six years old now and she'll be seve at the end of this month.
The thing about this activity that got me was to get to the stables and watch the handlers put her on a horse. I saw the visual perspective of just how small she is compared to the horse. Perspective: "Look at how BIG that horse is! Look at how tiny my daughter is!" Still, they gave her the reins and some instructions and she was sitting there on this horse that's more than ten times her size.
I had a "daddy" moment.
While the handlers helped me onto a horse, all I was thinking about was how could I get to my daughter if anything should go wrong. So many scenarios flashed through my mind, most of which were just crazy-daddy-wannabe-superman thoughts of trying to save my daughter. The reality was I was on my own horse and my daughter was on her own horse. I was behind her and pretty high above the ground, so there was nothing I could do to help her if anyhing did go wrong.
That's when the life-changing moment happened for me. I calmed down, my anxiety faded (my horse was glad of that), and I realized that my daughter had to do it on her own. My daughter had to take the reins and control the horse the way she was instructed. My perspective as a father changed at that moment, while riding a horse behind my daughter and watching her control her horse, even when the horse stepped off the path. That visual of my little girl handling a horse and controlling the situations as encountered them on the path, that changed me. That changed the way I see my role as her father and it changed the way I see her life.
Tamilyn has to "ride her own horse" in life. She has to do her own thing. I will pray for her, I will love her and I will trust that she will remember all of what her mom and I have taught her, so that even if she finds herself off the path, she will know and do what it takes to get back.
Grace and Peace!
