Lynlees

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I Hope You Dance

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Since the moment my daugh­ter, Anabelle, was born, the song “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Wom­ack has held a spe­cial place in my heart {and in her baby book!}. The lyrics encom­pass my dreams for her life as she grows up and my hopes that she will live life to the fullest, regard­less of the hard­ships or road blocks she may encounter. I want her to take chances and strive for hap­pi­ness, as I am with my cur­rent ven­ture, and I could and would not be doing so with­out the encour­age­ment of my lov­ing par­ents and fam­i­ly. My moth­er is an end­less foun­tain of sup­port and while craft­ing is not a gene I got from her, she will always be at my side, cut­ting and glu­ing her heart away. My father got me my first Wilton dec­o­rat­ing tips and has always encour­aged me to “have fun” through­out my life, whether I was head­ing out to take a test, going to a par­ty or leav­ing for col­lege, and I will nev­er for­get that. I recall a con­ver­sa­tion we had where, as he rem­i­nisced over the good old days, he men­tioned one of his few regrets was not hav­ing danced more. As Anabelle pre­pares to start kinder­garten in a cou­ple of weeks, I want­ed to com­mem­o­rate the first of many mile­stones with a cel­e­bra­tion that would not only excite her for the embarka­tion of her new adven­ture, but also inspire her with the con­fi­dence that her own par­ents will always sup­port her with the con­stant hope that I pray she will nev­er for­get: to dance.

I was thrilled when the par­ty debuted in the Fall 2012 issue of Bird’s Par­ty Mag­a­zine and it was Bird’s Par­ty her­self that cre­at­ed the stun­ning graph­ics and print­a­bles and brought my vision to life so beau­ti­ful­ly! I want­ed a soft, roman­tic feel, with an infu­sion of nat­ur­al and musi­cal aspects, along with a touch of sparkle! The beach set­ting was cho­sen to play upon the lyric “I hope you still feel small beside the ocean”, sym­bol­iz­ing the humil­i­ty and grat­i­tude I hope she main­tains, as she fol­lows her dreams. The desserts were sim­ple and rep­re­sent­ed the over­all theme or spe­cif­ic lyrics in the song. A small note­book was set aside in which hopes and wish­es for Anabelle could be writ­ten and glit­tered cones with edi­ble favors were set aside to be tak­en home.

I have con­flict­ing feel­ings as my baby girl heads off to kinder­garten, with which I am sure many par­ents can relate: excite­ment, fear, hap­pi­ness, sad­ness… and though there will be count­less events to come that will cause the same and even deep­er emo­tions, my wish will always be the same…

I Hope You Dance
 
“I Hope you nev­er lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you nev­er take one sin­gle breath for granted,
God for­bid love ever leave you emp­ty handed,
I  hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
When­ev­er one door clos­es I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fight­ing chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
 
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.
 
I hope you nev­er fear those moun­tains in the distance,
Nev­er set­tle for the path of least resistance
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances but they’re worth takin’,
Lovin’ might be a mis­take but it’s worth makin’,
Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sell­in’ out reconsider,
Give the heav­ens above more than just a pass­ing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.”
 
~per­formed by Lee Ann Wom­ack and writ­ten by Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers

 

Merci Beaucoup!



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Comments

  3. Beau­ti­ful par­ty, but even more beau­ti­ful is the sweet sen­ti­ments and encour­age­ment you are giv­ing to your sweet lit­tle girl as she starts a new adventure!

  6. Pret­ty sure I am not sup­posed to get teary when I read about a dessert table. Of all your designs I think this is the most beau­ti­ful, and love the concept.

  8. It is too ear­ly for me to be crying…but this real­ly touched my heart and I can relate to every­thing you wrote. This is why I adore you my sweet friend. Love Anabelle, she is a beau­ti­ful child inside and out, I have not doubt in my mind that she will always shine, just like her mama. Gor­geous par­ty and concept.

  9. Lyn­lee, this is beau­ti­ful, the words and your set-up. You total­ly made me tear up! I love this song and no lie, I get choked up every time I hear it. I love the soft­ness of it all!

  16. What a fab­u­lous post. Par­ty isnpira­tion can be found any­where and it is so touch­ing that that song inspired this par­ty. Your daugh­ter will nev­er for­get and will love you even more for it as she grows into a beau­ti­ful con­fi­dent woman. Amaz­ing party 🙂

  18. I’m with Staci– in tears. Send­ing my lit­tle man into the world on Kinder­garten soon. I have so many con­flict­ing feel­ings about it as well as wish­es, and things that I hope he car­ries with him from the very spe­cial time we’ve had togeth­er over the past 6 years. Such a beau­ti­ful par­ty and even more spe­cial after read­ing this post. You are one tal­ent­ed, thought­ful, great momma.

    • Oh, Jen­ny! Thank you so much for the sweet words, friend! It’s so nice to be able to relate to moms and par­ents in the same sit­u­a­tion and know that I’m not alone in these feel­ings! Send­ing lots of love! ♥

  19. This is so love­ly and I too have a lil girl off to kinder. I absolute­ly love the aqua blue and sil­ver col­or com­bo as well, one of my favorites. I enjoyed read­ing your post. You have amaz­ing tal­ent and your details were so sweet. So excit­ed to find you.

  20. This is so beau­ti­ful Lyn­lee… espe­cial­ly now that I’ve had a chance to meet your charm­ing and sweet lit­tle girl. I know I’m late to reply per usu­al, but I hope all goes well with the big day. xo

  21. Wow Lyn­lee!! The tal­ent and cre­ativ­i­ty you pos­sess is unre­al!! Your daugh­ter is just pre­cious! I have always loved this song, and what a beau­ti­ful way to use this song to make some mem­o­ries that will last a life­time! I am so hap­py that I found your blog!! I also love, love your name~how cute!

  23. Hav­ing become a moth­er just 6 months ago, this post tru­ly res­onat­ed with me. Every­thing is just STUNNING. Made me tear up.

  24. Oh my gosh this par­ty is so love­ly. You chose such an awe­some song to base it on. I wish the same thing for my lit­tle girl..

    love the crepe paper ribbons

  25. love this post! I was won­der­ing how you put that sil­ver look to the top of the mason jars you put the cot­ton can­dy in! Look­ing to do some­thing sim­i­lar for my daugh­ters sweet 16! But can’t fig­ure out what that is on top of the jars! Thanks!

    • Hi Kim! I uti­lized sil­ver glit­ter, but if you do that, you have to make sure food does­n’t touch it! They also have “edi­ble” glit­ter that you might also try. Hope this helps! 🙂

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